Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[Jasbee]

Hi,

I'm very new to the wonderful world of beekeeping

The advice from government agencies in my area (NSW, Australia) is to requeen frequently. How does this fit in with natural beekeeping?
Do you regularly requeen?

If you know of a good book or other resource I'd be interested in that would also be great.

Thanks

[rmcpb]

If you go down this track either breed your own queens from your best ones or buy from a local breeder so your bees are as adapted to the local conditions as possible. I breed my own queens and bank a few in nucs so they are on hand. this also lets me pick the best for my location and, besides, its another fascinating part of this hobby.

After writing all that I saw you were after an opinion on requeening. I requeen when the brood pattern gets weak or if the behaviour of the hive is not up to scratch. Requeening every year or two on a formula is not good in my opinion.

Cheers
Rob.

[Jasbee]

Thanks!

[ingo50]

From my understanding as a novice beekeeper, as Rob says, re queening is used in a failing hive or if the bees have become very aggressive or show other undesirable traits. Commercial beekeepers often re queen very regularly. In the natural setting the hive will supercede a failing queen. There are reports of queens living for many years, up to 7, but my impression is that queens are surviving for shorter periods in the 21 century, due to all the different stresses placed on bees. How many hives have you got? I would get familiar with all the basic good beekeeping skills before thinking of breeding queens etc. and find an experienced mentor.

[Jasbee]

Thanks! We are in the process of getting one hive so very new beginners. Mentor is a wonderful traditional Langstroth commercial keeper who sells queens and at 95 I don't think he's likely to think much of our "natural" ideas. I know we could buy local queens from him but are happy to let the bees do their own re queening if that's possible.

[rmcpb]

If you get a new hive with a good young queen you should be Ok for a couple of years at least.

Cheers
Rob.

[Jasbee]

Thanks Rob that's great news.

[Paul Reyes]

When starting out and you have a new hive you should not worry about requeening for all list 3 harvests, and that depends on the health of your hive. If you bought it from a reputable supplier then they usually come with good queens.