My original package of bees was ordered in Spring 2007 from B. Weaver Apiaries in Navasota, Texas. I selected a BeeSMaRt queen. She was marked with paint on her thorax. However, within weeks, I noticed half of the paint had flaked away. And then the next time I saw the queen, she had no marking at all. Since 2007, I am sure that hive has superceded, meaning that the original queen has died and been replaced by another. This hive is in Plano and going very strong this spring.
My plan is to take my two strongest hives and split them a week or two before the new queens arrive in mid-May. Then when the new queens arrive, the task will be to locate the two old queens among those 4 split hives, and kill them. Otherwise the new queens will not be accepted by the hives. I’m afraid that finding the old queens is not going to be easy. In fact, I believe it is going to be terrifically difficult. One of my former old neighbors who used to keep bees, told me that in all his years of beekeeping, he was never able to successfully requeen once, because of his inability to find queens. My father on the other hand tells me he has never failed to find the queen, but that it has taken him up to one hour in some cases.
Why so hard to find? Well, it’s one bee in a sea of bees. What distinguishes her is that she is much larger than the worker bees. But not so large that she is immediately obvious to the uninitiated. She will always be surrounded by workers bees who are feeding her and otherwise tending to her. She will also usually be found around the honeycomb with recently laid eggs. These facts can aid one in finding the queen. Or so I hear.
Why new queens? For their genes. Gentler, for one. I specifically selected B. Weaver because they do not use pesticides for varroa mites, meaning that they have developed genetic resistance to them. Since I don’t use any pesticides either, this is absolutely a requirement for me. I didn’t get into this gig to spread RAID on my toast (ok, slight exaggeration).
What has to be done before all this can happen? I need to prepare two new hives, including two bottom boards and two covers, and all the supers and frames that go inbetween. Did you hear that? I just sighed. Time and money. But at the end of the day, the trials and tribulations are what makes the honey that much sweeter.
To be completely honest, now that I think of it sometimes I had to come back and look for the queen on another day (regarding my saying that I have always been able to find the queen). Sometimes I find them pretty quickly and other times it takes longer. I’d better qualify it by saying “to the best of my memory” I don’t remember ever not being able to find a queen when I had to.