In a message dated 3/1/04 4:48:28 PM, [log in to unmask] writes:

<< Now, George, that is easier said than done!!! I hardly ever find the queen,
except when I'm not looking for her. Maybe you could give me some suggestions
on the best way to locate the queen?
 >>

Kathy, I don't want to write a whole book about "how to find a queen", but
much has
been written on this subject.  Hence, I will only mention what beekeepers who
have
a good knowledge of BEE BEHAVIOR do; with a side remark or so.  ALL queens
should
be MARKED, not only so they can be more easily seen, but more important so YOU
know the queen that you saw on July 4th is the same queen that was in the
colony
back on April 15th.  Maybe this is not important to you, but if you were
keeping
bees in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, or Southern California, you surely would
want
to know if your new queen had be bred with a bunch of Africanized Drones, if
for
no other reason, to protect you in the event of a lawsuit from a stung
neighbor.
Speaking for myself, I raise only Carniolans, and my queens are artificially
inseminated with Carniolan drone semen, so any UNmarked queen in one of my
colonies is an "outcast" because she might be bred by every "boy bee for miles
around", and their progeny is just a bunch of bastard worker bees.  Ending, MARK
your queens with Testor's Model Paint that will NOT wear off and lasts for
years.

When you open a colony, using smoke to let them "know you are coming", what
happens?  You have upset the entire decorum of the colony and ALL bees are
RUNNING
somewhere away from that smoke, and so is the queen.  Further, queens are
SHY, and have only been outside the hive once in their life, their mating day, so
they are not
used to DAYLIGHT and much prefer to stay in the dark.  Hence to look for a
queen,
blow a small puff in the front entrance and a small puff in the upper
entrance and
YOU go have a Coca-Cola for 1-2 minutes (VERY DIFFICULT).  Next, WITHOUT
opening
any, REMOVE all supers and set them aside.  The queen is in one of the two
DEEP brood chambers (or one of 3 Medium Brood Chambers if you keep bees like I
do - all
mediums, and NO deeps.)   DON'T START IN THE TOP BROOD CHAMBER LOOKING FOR
THE QUEEN, BECAUSE SHE IS JUST GOING TO RUN BELOW. Hence, divide your brood
boxes and search each individually, so she only has 10 frames to hide on instead
of 20 deep frames or 30 medium frames.
        I rarely look for a queen unless I want to CONFINE her or MOVE her;
but 95%
of the time, if I see white pearly larvae, then I know the queen is laying
and the
brood is healthy.  But if I have to find the queen for splitting or
requeening, I look
for her in the way I described and usually find her within 10 minutes after I
first
puffed a VERY SMALL WHIFF of smoke into the colony.
       Books can be written about the proper use of smoke.  It is both an art
and a
science, and there are SO MANY outside conditions that indicate more smoke,
less
smoke, or no smoke.  I am reminded of the smokers that I had to use in South
America when investigating apis mellifera scutellata (the AHB).  To try and
control
those devils, you had to use more smoke on one colony than produced in a
California
forest fire.  Forgetting that, we are using calm European honey bees, the
average
hobbyist beekeeper uses far too much smoke in place of using his brain to
understand BEE BEHAVIOR.
       Sorry, for being long-winded, but it is my scientist way of saying I
don't like
any stones left unturned.
       Regarding raising your own queens, I think you are TOTALLY WRONG.
Queens
purchased from a REAL queen BREEDER who has a skilled understanding of honey
bee GENETICS, are so superior to those queens raised by that myriad number of
queen PRODUCERS out there that don't know the difference between bombus,
vespula, and apis.
      YOU seem to be an intelligent lady, who is trying to learn.  Read the
writings
of LAIDLAW and PAGE about honey bee GENETICS, or Norm Gary's genetic work,
of Freidrich Ruttner (if you can read German), or even Sue Cobey's genetic
work to
develop the NEW WORLD CARNIOLAN line of apis.

      I hope I have helped, and made you THINK.

      Thanks for writing to me.

      George Imirie, Retired Scientist
      Certified EAS Master Beekeeper
      Beginning my 72nd year of successful beekeeping

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