The message <000801c2ec23$8c7fee40$0200000a@paramita>
from steve noble <[log in to unmask]> contains these words:

> I was going through the archives regarding the matter of re-queening, trying
> to learn all I can about it when a question popped into my head.  A lot of
> the discussion revolves around whether to buy a mated queen, let the hive
> raise a queen of their own, or insert a queen cell of your own choosing.  In
> other words it boils down to installing a mated queen or installing, or
> having the bees install, a virgin queen.  It occurred to me that requeening
> which involves a virgin queen Is limited in a way that no one I have yet
> read has mentioned, and that is by the conditions that are required for a
> queen to get, uh, er... mated.  Around here, Western Washington, it might be
> practically June before we see a really clear warm day which is what I
> understand is required for a nuptial flight.

snip

Here in the North of Scotland, we have additional problems to re-queening.
We are still in a varroa-free area and so cannot buy in queens from the
breeders
further south (even if we were prepared to take the risk), and there are
no queen
breeders this far north.  There is no point in supplying young brood to
the one
hive which I have with a failing queen, as the drones will not appear
for another
two months!  My only solution here is to combine the hive with the
failing queen,
with a strong hive and then to make a split later in the year, hoping
that they will
be strong enough to take advantage of the heather flow in August and
September.
It's getting to be that being varroa-free has a number of problems!

Phil.
(Northern Highlands of Scotland)

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::