Jane Power <[log in to unmask]> writes: >I'm new at this soooo....if I have an ill-tempered monarch and requeen, and >I get another ill-tempered monarch should I requeen again? It seems very >disruptive, and yet, mean queens are undesirable. The season in Northern >Ontario is short and I wonder if I put them in a frequent state of new >queenhood, queening?, I worry for my honey or should I? Jane Power This is just one beekeeper's opinion, (I'm sure other opinions abound!), but here goes anyway - Requeening is not so disruptive as it seems - you probably only loose about a week of brood production. The real issue is how quickly are you able to determine if the new queen is ill-tempered? You need to wait for a significant percentage of the population to be the progeny of the new queen before you can make that evaluation. So I would say a minimum of six weeks, and longer would be better. Sooo, you *could* do it twice a season, if warranted - once in the spring, and once in the fall. I dislike fall requeening because you don't have much time to recover if the new queen doesn't "take" for some reason. Then again, spring requeening can impact your honey production slightly - life is a compromise.... Should Jane worry for her honey? I don't think so, as the "state of new queenhood" will be relatively infrequent (from the bees perspective). Rick Hough, Hamilton, MA, USA