Ernest Caldwell wrote:
 
> Has anyone out there had any experience or do you have information on
> requeening colonies using queen cells?  We have recently begun trying this
> method and would like input from anyone who has tried this method.  What have
> been your success rates?
>
> Also, in the case where the queen cell is introduced into the colony, without
> killing the existing queen, what percentage of the time will the new, virgin
> queen kill the existing queen.
 
Hi Ernest,
 
I have been requeening with ripe cells for some years. There are two different
ways that I have been trying. First to put a cell in the top box of a hive
without excluder, and without removing the old queen. In around 60% of the
hives I had the new queen laying. In 20% there was the old lady still wandering
around, and in 20% there was an F2 queen.
 
When first removing the old queen I had success rate of around 80% ending up
with the "right" queen. 20% F2 queens.
 
There will be differences between years, weather and so on, but generally I'm
satisfied with the result. I do the requeening when the main honey flow starts.
Then the bees have been produced that's going to give me the crop. Three weeks
without a laying queen during the flow increase that crop when there is no grubs
to feed.
 
This works on lat 60, with a short and intense summer. And it is average results.
There can be big differences between years. I'm going to put more text about this
on my homepage when I get time.
 
--
Regards
 
P-O Gustafsson, Sweden
[log in to unmask]    http://www.kuai.se/~beeman/