How to re-king a hive when the existing queen dies or becomes unproductive to maintain colony viability.
Many of you know through my social media channels that I received a beehive and beekeeping course as a Christmas present last year.
Here’s my awesome and incredibly knowledgeable beekeeper’s website if you’re looking to get a beehive for your home or want to give one as a gift.
It was the best Christmas present ever!
After the training I was ready for my own beehive, which was delivered to my home in mid-March 2022.
Why at this time of year?
Because the weather is not too hot and not too cold. In other words, where I live, it’s the perfect time of year to transfer a beehive to a new home.
How to “requeen” a beehive
Unfortunately, the queen in my new hive has turned out to be far from ideal.
In the weeks that followed, my beekeeper and I noticed during our regular hive checks that it wasn’t in a healthy pattern.
Most likely, Aurora had been injured and could no longer perform her royal duties.
When this happens, it is imperative to make the hive queen again as soon as possible.
Since there were already several queen larval cells in the hive (suggesting that the worker bees knew they needed a new queen!), we initially decided to hatch one of these as the best method.
Hatch or buy a new queen?
The next week, after retiring Aurora, I noticed that the most mature queen cell had actually hatched!
Unfortunately, this recently hatched queen was nowhere to be seen in the hive. I carefully examined each picture twice to make sure I hadn’t missed them!
The most likely explanation is that she was on one of her (up to) three mating flights. 🐝
Unfortunately, my beekeeper and I couldn’t find her for the next week either.
There was a chance that she would not be able to return to the hive due to the hailstorms our area had experienced this week.
Since the hive had now been without a laying queen for two weeks, my beekeeper suggested restocking the hive with a purchased queen instead.
Below is the video of the new queen “Scarlett” after she arrived and was due to be placed in my hive.
What an amazing and complicated process!