How To Requeen Your Hive

Requeening a hive is a common practice in beekeeping that involves replacing an old or failing queen with a new, healthy queen. It can significantly improve the health, productivity, and temperament of your hive. Let’s explore why requeening might be necessary and how you can successfully do it in your own apiary.

Why Requeen a Hive?

1. Old or Failing Queen: As queens age, their egg-laying ability declines, leading to a reduction in the colony’s population. If you notice a poor/”spotty” brood pattern, fewer eggs being laid, or drones being laid where workers should be, it might be time to requeen.

2. Aggressive Behavior: Sometimes colonies become too defensive or aggressive, often due to genetics passed down by the queen. Replacing her with a queen from a gentler stock can improve the colony’s temperament.

3. Colony Productivity: A strong, healthy queen is key to a productive hive. If the colony’s honey production or general activity slows, a new queen can help rejuvenate the hive's performance.

4. Poor Brood Pattern: If the queen is laying erratically or there are large gaps in the brood pattern, it’s often a sign that the queen’s fertility is declining.

5. Disease Management: Some queens are more resistant to certain diseases, so requeening with a disease-resistant strain can improve colony health.

We use rubber bands to keep the queen cage in place. This colony was especially fiesty so we used duct tape over the top of the queen cage to delay her release.

How to Requeen a Hive: Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Order a New Queen: Before starting the requeening process, ensure you have a new, well-mated queen. Queens are often ordered from reputable breeders, and they typically arrive in small cages with a few attendant bees.
   
   

2. Locate and Remove the Old Queen: Open the hive and carefully search each frame for the old queen. Once located, you must kill her. It sucks, I know. I always take a moment to thank her for her service before pinching her. We’ve found that it helps to kill her and then put her dead body back into the hive. This allows the bees to assess her body, realize that she’s dead, and begin the process of (hopefully!) accepting the new queen.
   
   

3. Introduce the New Queen in a Cage: Place the new queen (still in her cage) into the hive. The cage typically comes with a sugar plug or candy at one end. Worker bees will slowly chew through this plug to release the queen over the next few days. This delayed introduction gives the colony time to accept her pheromones and adjust to the new queen.

   • Tip 1: Position the queen cage between frames in the brood area so the bees have direct access to her. You may need to remove a frame in order to position the cage well. You could also use a rubber band to keep the queen cage in place so it doesn’t fall.

   • Tip 2: Make sure the screen of the queen cage is facing out (not towards the comb) so that the bees can greet her and so that she gets airflow.

   • Tip 3: Some queen cages have a cork that you need to remove to expose the candy plug so the bees can chew their way to her.

   • Tip 4: Some queens come with attendants. It can be helpful to remove the attendants as they are from another colony with a different scent. Removing the attendants can sometimes help your colony accept the queen.
     
     

4. Let the Hive Be: Over the next few days the colony will be in the process of evaluating the new queen. Give them time to do this.
   
   Signs of aggression toward the queen, such as bees biting or clustering around the cage, could indicate that they haven’t accepted her yet. If the bees are calm, they are more likely to accept the new queen.
   
   

5. Release the Queen (if necessary): 5-7 days after introducing the queen, check to see if the bees have chewed through the candy plug. If they haven’t, look to see how the bees are responding to the queen in her cage. Signs of aggression toward the queen, such as bees biting or tightly clustering around the cage (sometimes you’ll even seen them trying to sting her), indicates that they haven’t accepted her yet. If that’s the case, give them a few more days. You could also quickly check to see if they have their own queen cells developing in the hive.
   
   If the bees seem calm but they still haven’t released the queen, you can manually release the queen by gently removing the cage’s candy plug and opening it over the frames. Let her walk out of the cage and down the frames on her own. Don’t shake her.
   
   

6. Check for New Brood: About a week after the queen has been released, check the hive for new eggs or larvae. This is the clearest indication that the queen has been successfully accepted and is laying eggs.

Requeening Tips

• Timing: Requeening is best done during the spring/early summer or early fall when the colony is still active and temperatures are favorable. We check all of our hives in July to evaluate the brood pattern and overall queen performance. If we see a hive that looks lousy, we requeen it in August or September to ensure they go into fall/winter healthy.

• Gentleness: Always handle the queen carefully to avoid damaging or injuring her during the introduction process. Be especially careful of exposing her to heat and direct light.

• Patience: Sometimes colonies take a little while to fully accept a new queen, so give the bees time to adjust to her presence.

Conclusion

Requeening a hive is a valuable tool in maintaining a strong, healthy honey bee colony. Whether due to a failing queen, aggressive behavior, or poor productivity, replacing the queen can reinvigorate the hive and set it up for success. By following these step-by-step instructions, you’ll be able to smoothly transition your colony to a new queen and keep your bees thriving. Happy Beekeeping!