ReQueening Hives
ReQueening Hives, why do we do it?
Well, you have heard about africanized bees, right? You know those bees, the ones referred to as “killer bees”. Beekeepers have found that if you take out an africanized Queen and replace her with a non-africanized Queen that has been fertilized, her genetics will be passed on to the next generation. So the africanized hive will change over time to a gentler colony of bees.
So this year we purchased fertilized Queens in June. They are shipped to us in these little cages.
We put the cages into the hives and let the colony get used to her for about 3 or 4 days.
Here we have come back and taken the cork out of the cage and getting ready to release the new Queen into the hive.
Look at all the bees around this queen cage, they are just loving on their new queen.
Had to include this picture of a new little honeycomb that the girls had started. They are just amazing at what they can do.
All the new Queens we purchased were marked with a a white dot on their backs. So on our next hive checks we will check on their progress.
