Beekeeping on Mars

[Neils]

Just to go off on a little tangent it's an eye opener having my bees on a sheep farm. Listening to conversations around the rules and regulations around moving sheep compared to my simply sticking my bees in the back of a van and dumping them on a new site is quite interesting to say the least.

[The Drone Ranger]

Queen banking ?
Can anyone explain ?
There used to be a few ads in Scottish beekeeper for queens.
Anyone remember John Forsey I think it was ?
He may have been swept up in the SBA SICCAM pogroms or possibly retired.

[fatshark]

Hi DR … you can keep mated queens in colonies, usually caged alone (i.e. no workers) in transport cages of some sort, with access to workers in the colony. This is in a queenless portion of a queenright colony, for example above the QE in a brood box, with the queens flanked by emerging brood. I've not done this (yet … I meant to this year, built the banking frame but then got overwhelmed with work) but it's described in Laidlaw and Eckert Queen Rearing under 'care of queens'.

[The Drone Ranger]

Thanks fatshark.
One big queen importer who used to produce lots of their own queen mentioned Queen banking as their method.
On a tangent it would be easy enough to have a two queen hive where the brood boxes were separated by the black coated mesh sold for varroa floors
Providing the food didnt run out the heat would be shared

[Little_John]

Academic results from attempts at Queen Banking have been pretty dire:

Journal of Apicultural Research, Vol. 42 (4) pp. 61 - 64, December 2003

Overwintering of honey bee queens en mass in reservoir colonies in a temperate climate and its effect on queen performance - H V Gencer

Abstract
The mass storage of mated honey bee (Apis mellifera) queens in reservoir colonies over winter was investigated under continental climatic conditions. The mated queens were stored in (a) queenright reservoir (QRR) colonies on a frame with partitioned honeycomb, (b) QRR colonies on frame holding wire screen cages, (c) queenless reservoir (QLR) colonies on frame with partitioned honeycomb, and (d) QLR colonies on frame holding wire screen cages.

In addition to mass storage, the queens were individually wintered in colonies held in Kirchainer mating hives and in 5-frame nucleus hives with standard combs as the control group.

The queen survival in reservoir colonies was observed from October 2000 to March 2001. No queen survived the winter in QRR colonies, whereas 16.7% of the queens stored in screen cages and 40.5% of the queens on honeycomb in QLR colonies survived for five months. The queen survival in mating hives and in 5-frame nucleus hives were 80.0% and 83.3%, respectively.

Reproductive performances of surviving queens overwintered in reservoir colonies, mating hives and 5-frame nucleus hives were evaluated by comparing brood areas and adult bee populations produced in test colonies. There were no differences in numbers of frames of bees and in brood production of queens in test colonies. Thus, mass storage of queens over the winter did not impair their reproductive performances.

Which is why, when Pete L. commented that overwintering queens was easy, I asked if he'd expand on the system being used ...

I'm planning on over-wintering queens in multiple 2-frame nucs with supplementary heating next winter - still ironing-out one or two details before I start building the kit.

LJ

[Jon]

Pete overwinters his queens in home made mini nucs above the crownboard of a strong colony which provides a little heat.

[fatshark]

Thanks Little_John … I'd seen quite a few negative comments about banked queens but no specifics for overwintered stocks. The figures in that abstract are pretty awful. Laidlaw and Eckert state that "… queen breeders do not, as a general rule, attempt to carry surplus queens in reservoirs overwinter …". No wonder.

Overwintering in polystyrene mini-nucs is pretty straightforward. I've done it in double-deckers with no additional protection, or single story units in an unheated greenhouse with access to the outside. I've had a poor year for queen rearing so aren't overwintering any other than 5 frame nucs this season. I'm not sure you'll need additional heating. The only comment I'd have about two frame nucs is that the surface area is reasonably large so a clustered colony is likely to be flattened or exposed on the outside of the outer frames. One solution might be to have a well insulated brood box with Correx dividers allowing reasonable heat 'sharing' between adjacent two frame colonies. I'll be interested to hear how you get on.

[prakel]

I'm planning on over-wintering queens in multiple 2-frame nucs with supplementary heating next winter - still ironing-out one or two details before I start building the kit.

Just a thought as you haven't already started building the gear, do you have specific reasons for not looking towards the alternative of using three frames in the nucs? It's not so much that there's an extra comb but rather that there's an extra seam. Personally, although I know that twos work I always feel that three is a far better configuration, closer to what might be 'natural'.

[gavin]

This *is* the official queen-raising forum .

Not a complaint in case anyone is worried, just an observation. Mars to queen rearing in a few short pages.

[Jon]

I did try and get back on topic via post 35!
I think queen banking is ok for a few weeks in the summer although you have to bank them all at the same time.
If you add new queens to the same bank they feed the new ones and ignore the older ones apparently.
Never tried it and mine stay in the Apideas until needed.