Tag Archives: queenless hives

Package Bee Population

Posted on June 3, 2018 by

Yesterday, I wrote about bee populations in a hive that starts as a package.  The original bees slowly die while the number of new bees, arising from eggs laid by the package’s queen, rapidly increases. In yesterday’s example, the immigrant … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Queens, Science | Tagged , , , | 9 Comments

A Depleted Home

Posted on June 2, 2018 by

A few days ago, a friend invited me to visit her bees.  In one part of her apiary, there were three hives, neatly lined, single-storey. These hives had started the season as packages five weeks earlier. Two were excellent. They … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Queens | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

My Failure as a Beekeeper: Part IV

Posted on September 6, 2017 by

This is the fourth piece in my six-part description of my colossal failure as a beekeeper this summer. If you’ve been following this little series, you saw how I acquired a little queenless nuc, transported it to my home, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping | Tagged , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

One Week with a Queenless Hive

Posted on July 8, 2017 by

Over a week ago, I brought a nuc into my back yard. Twelve days have passed, so there should be an emerged virgin queen inspecting the neighbourhood, looking for boys. My little nuc was intentionally built as a queenless hive. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Queens | Tagged , , , | 17 Comments

Sticking the Queen In

Posted on May 25, 2017 by

Over the past few days, I’ve written a little about identifying poor queens by examining brood patterns. Then we discussed  finding and pinching her failing heinousnesses.  The next step in your requeening saga is inserting the caged queen. Here in … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, History, Queens, Tools and Gadgets | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Good Queen; Bad Queen

Posted on May 23, 2017 by

Quite a few commercial beekeepers replace queens every second year. It’s a scheduled event, sort of like a birthday. Half the hives will get a new queen in 2017, the other half in 2018, then back to the first group … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Queens | Tagged , , | 22 Comments

The Worker Who Would Be Queen

Posted on September 1, 2016 by

Bees have a complicated social structure which some political scientists have sought to embrace. In the old days, people assumed that the King Bee ruled with an iron fist that imposed order, harmony, sacrifice, and unflinching duty. Now that the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Genetics, Queens, Science | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments