Simple Queen rearing for beeginners. Follows on from the previous presentation on Swarm Management.

1. Advanced Beeginners - Week 3
Introduction to Queen Rearing
Friday, 11 January 13

2. Agenda
Why bother with Queen Rearing?
Basic Bee Genetics
Breeding Bees the Easy Way
Getting Back to Black...
Friday, 11 January 13

3. Queen Rearing
Don’t be put off by the books
Its easy to do and very rewarding
You get the type of bees you want
Its important for the local environment
It’s a vital skill for everyone in our
Association
Friday, 11 January 13
Raising your own Queens is rewarding and fun. It’s also a key skill that all beekeepers should learn as you will require a replacement Queen at some point and its far better for your, your
bees and the environment if you do it yourself rather than buying them in from overseas.

4. Queen Rearing
Don’t be put off by the books
Its easy to do and very rewarding
You get the type of bees you want
Its important for the local environment
It’s a vital skill for everyone in our
Association
It makes you a Beekeeper rather than just a
keeper of bees...
Friday, 11 January 13
Raising your own Queens is rewarding and fun. It’s also a key skill that all beekeepers should learn as you will require a replacement Queen at some point and its far better for your, your
bees and the environment if you do it yourself rather than buying them in from overseas.

5. What sort of Bees do you have now?
Italian style Bees
Friday, 11 January 13
Italian bees, having been conditioned to the warmer climate of the central Mediterranean, are less able to cope with the "hard" winters and cool, wet springs that we usually have in the
Southern UK. They do not form such tight winter clusters and therefore more food has to be consumed to compensate for the greater heat loss from the loose cluster. The tendency to raise
brood late in autumn also increases food consumption.
Northern Black Bees are more suitable for our cooler climate in Northern Europe and are the “native” species in the UK right up until the 20th Century when beekeepers started importing
European Queens to replace native bees killed by the “Isle of Wight” Disease (probably Acarine). This is still being carried on now and is the source of a lot of our problems with badly
behaved bees and possibly poor Queen mating.

6. What sort of Bees do you have now?
Italian style Bees
Native British Black Bees
Friday, 11 January 13
Italian bees, having been conditioned to the warmer climate of the central Mediterranean, are less able to cope with the "hard" winters and cool, wet springs that we usually have in the
Southern UK. They do not form such tight winter clusters and therefore more food has to be consumed to compensate for the greater heat loss from the loose cluster. The tendency to raise
brood late in autumn also increases food consumption.
Northern Black Bees are more suitable for our cooler climate in Northern Europe and are the “native” species in the UK right up until the 20th Century when beekeepers started importing
European Queens to replace native bees killed by the “Isle of Wight” Disease (probably Acarine). This is still being carried on now and is the source of a lot of our problems with badly
behaved bees and possibly poor Queen mating.

7. Genetics of Different Races of Bees
Look for paper from Whitfield - Thrice out of Africa
Friday, 11 January 13
Honey bees probably started out in Eastern Africa like humans did and just like us, they migrated out of Africa into Asia and Europe several times. The individual races evolved over time to
suit local climates and conditions.
Note how our own Apis mellifera mellifera is more closely related to African bees than its European neighbours like the Apis mellifera lingustica (Italian bee) or Apis mellifera carnica (Cariolan
Bee) which themselves evolved from Asian bees.

8. Local Bees are best...
Apis mellifera mellifera =
“British Black Bee” used to
be the local variety
Very docile (apparently!)
Winters well
Shorter breeding season
Reduced swarming
Appropriately
productive
Friday, 11 January 13
The native black honeybee has evolved thick black hair and a larger body to help keep it warm in a cooler climate, and has a shorter breeding season to reflect the shorter UK summer. It
has a reduced tendency to swarm multiple times in a season reflecting the fact that it’s better to swarm once and rapidly build a new colony to cope with the longer winter than in other
species in warmer climes that swarm several times in the longer summers.
This also means that it consumes less stores at the critical period in early spring when the weather is variable (like now!) It’s also able to forage at lower temperatures than other races.

9. Recent Bee History
Apis mellifera mellifera - British black bees used
to be the native species in the UK
Badly affected by “Isle of Wight disease”
(Probably Acarine)
Large numbers of Apis mellifera ligustica (Italian)
and Apis mellifera carnica (Carniolan) imported in
late 19th Century onwards
Now we have a real hotch-potch of bees that have
many unwanted characteristics...
Friday, 11 January 13
The ongoing importation of non-native bees is creating a lot of problems as we end up with bees with characteristics that are not suited to our local environment.
These hybrids are also quite aggressive and now require UK beekeepers to wear full suits where elsewhere in Europe where standards are much tighter, beekeepers rarely need such
protection as the bees are far more docile.

10. How our Bees used to
behave...
Friday, 11 January 13
This newsreel from 1941-2 shows just how docile our bees were in the past. Neither seem to need veils or suits and this would be virtually unthinkable for any of our hives today.
There are plenty of newsreels from the 1940‘s to the 1960’s available at sites such as www.britishpathe.com showing how UK amateur beekeepers were able to manage their colonies
without any protective clothing.
How in 60 years did we come to tolerate such badly behaved bees??? I would love to have colonies like this.

11. Friday, 11 January 13
This newsreel from 1941-2 shows just how docile our bees were in the past. Neither seem to need veils or suits and this would be virtually unthinkable for any of our hives today.
There are plenty of newsreels from the 1940‘s to the 1960’s available at sites such as www.britishpathe.com showing how UK amateur beekeepers were able to manage their colonies
without any protective clothing.
How in 60 years did we come to tolerate such badly behaved bees??? I would love to have colonies like this.

12. So, what went so wrong?
Our bees used to be very
docile and did not require
bee-suits, gloves and veils
People imported Queens
especially from E.Europe
These can be prolific but
don’t over-winter well
Any crosses with local
bees are usually very
badly behaved...
Friday, 11 January 13
Bringing in imported Queens is probably the main reason why many colonies are far too aggressive nowadays. We should not tolerate bad behaviour and any competent
beekeeper should be able to raise their own Queens from locally selected docile stock.
So there is no need to buy expensive bees from outside the UK.
As an association we should be able to provide Queens at minimal cost to our own members...

13. Basic Bee Genetics
Friday, 11 January 13

14. Basic Bee Genetics
All workers in a
hive are typically
half-sisters
Each Queen mates
with 15-20 drones
so for each worker;
50% genetics
known (Q)
50% very
mixed
(dependent
on drone)
Thousands of
potential variations
Friday, 11 January 13
The Honey Bees Genome has been mapped extensively but Honey Bee genetics remains a very complex subject. As each Queen mates with up to 15-20 drones each with their own
genetics, the ability to select and promote particular genes into the workers within a colony is extremely difficult.
For example, it’s thought that the traits that create “Hygienic” bees is exhibited by the interaction of a groups of seven individual genes. Ensuring that these genes can be passed intact
through a number of generations of Queens and workers even inside a laboratory is very challenging.

15. Bee Chromosomes
All eggs & sperm have 16
Chromosomes each
Drones arise from unfertilised
eggs - Sperm is all identical
Drones have 16 Chromosomes
Queens and workers (female)
have 32 chromosomes
Workers are 75% related rather
than 50% if they laid their own
eggs
Probably why bees form social
colonies
Friday, 11 January 13
Don’t forget that genetically, the Queen bee is just like any other worker bee in the colony. The only difference is that she is uniquely allowed to pass her genes on to the next generation.
The apparently random nature in the way that a particular worker egg is selected to become a Queen is yet another genetic shake of the dice that makes these social insects unique.
Drones are unusual in that unlike other animals, all their sperms are clones of each other. In other words they can only pass on a single set of genes and characteristics. This is not a
problem as they can only mate once and then die anyway. Therefore the genetic variation in the next generation of bees comes from the numbers of different individual males the Queen
mates with. Access to good quality drones from several hives within a given area is critical to raising excellent Queens.

16. Mating can be tricky
Queen mates away from
hive over 1-3 days with
up to 20 drones
Drones can also fly
several miles
You have no control
over whom your
Queens mate with
BUT - Artificial
insemination is possible
for experts
Friday, 11 January 13
Because Queens and drones can fly several miles to meet each other, the beekeeper normally has no control over the mating process.
Therefore the only way one can control the genetics of a particular Queen is to use artificial insemination, a rather brutal procedure done under a microscope with special equipment. In this
process the Queen vagina is held open with hooks as shown above and the sperm sacs from know drones are removed from their owners and inserted into the Queen.
This is used by professional bee breeders and some researchers and is usually outside the remit of most of us hobbyist beekeepers.

17. Lets have a break...
Friday, 11 January 13

18. Breeding Bees - The Easy Way
Friday, 11 January 13
These are some nice, healthy Queen cells I raised using the method described below.

19. General Concepts
Most of us only need a few new Queens a year
We want “Quality over Quantity”
Use a simple process that mimics normal processes and
does not “force” the bees in any way
Suggest a process based on previously shown Demaree
swarm control method
Its simple and effective, requiring minimum of kit, and no
loss of workforce
Minimises impact on potential honey production
Friday, 11 January 13
As always in beekeeping, there are a huge number of ways in which one can breed Queens and the books are full of different ideas. Geoff and I have discussed the various options at length
and have come up with an extremely simple process that closely mimics the bees own natural methods and does not require much intervention on particular days or manipulation of eggs and
larvae.
The intention here is to enable the beekeeper to raise 2-3 Queens at a time for either their own or their colleagues use and is not really suitable for raising large numbers of Queens at one
time. For this one would need to use something like a Jenter kit with removable cells and also be able to create a number of Nucs or mating hives with artificially high amounts of nurse bees.
This is expensive in equipment and the time required to manage this process. Our method is a natural extension of the Swarm Management process outlined in the previous training session
and simply requires an extra brood chamber with frames and a modified Queen Excluder or Cloake board.

20. A Demaree’d Hive
Isolate Queen
Frames with
Place frames of eggs and Eggs & Brood
brood in 2nd chamber on top
of hive.
Super
Nurse bees will join brood
and raise new Queens from
Old Queen,
fresh eggs new comb with
honey & pollen
Isolate old Queen below
Queen Excluder
Friday, 11 January 13
In our previous talk on Swarm Management, we showed how to use the Demaree method of swarm control where the frames of young brood and eggs (without any bees) are moved to the
top of the hive, above the honey super while the queen and all the bees are left in the lower brood box with empty comb or foundation. The nurse bees migrate to the brood at the top and
the older bees stay with the queen below the queen excluder, as if they had swarmed.
Inspection of the top brood box seven to nine days later, will most likely reveal open queen cells in various stages as the Queenless bees in the top of the hive raise a replacement Queen.

21. Stage Two...
Make sure no Queen cells left below or they could
still swarm Feeder
Lower hive unlikely to swarm as bees are busy
building comb Frames with
Can put feeder on top to encourage nurse bees to Eggs & Brood
produce plenty of Royal Jelly
Use anti-swarm board with entrance facing 180 the
other way and leave entrance closed
When you see sealed Queen cells...
Super
Isolate from hive below with a inner cover placed
directly over the anti-swarm board and open top Old Queen,
entrance
new comb with
New Queens & drones can leave to mate and return honey & pollen
via own entrance
Friday, 11 January 13
Once you see active Queen cells you know the process has worked. If not, then you can simply get another frame of eggs and larvae from the bottom brood chamber (making sure the
Queen remains below) and put it in the top until you see Queen cells.
It can also be helpful to add two frame feeders (one on each side of the centre frames brought up from below) instead of a top feeder as these help pack out the hive space, especially if you
have had to use frames of foundation either side of your inserted frames of eggs and brood.
Once you see good quality unsealed Queen cells, you then place a Cloake board or modified Queen Excluder under the top box with the entrance facing 180 degrees away from the main
entrance below. This enables the Queen to fly out and mate and enables her retinue of matured nurse bees to become foragers. What you have done now is to create a second separate
hive on top of the first. Leave it in place for a couple of weeks until your new Queen has mated, returned and is now laying eggs.
Congratulations! You are now a Bee Breeder!

22. Stage Three...
You know have a number of options;
Create a single new colony
Take off top box and place on new floor and stand etc
elsewhere - keep feeding until well established
Create several new colonies
Take out several sealed Queen cells and raise in
individual mating hives or Nucs
Replace existing Queen
Cull/replace old Queen once your new Queen is
laying
Friday, 11 January 13
So, once you have your sealed Queen cells in the top box, you have several options;
1/ If you want to create a new colony for either yourself or to sell or donate to another beekeeper, you can either move the frames of eggs, larvae and food into a Nuc and move elsewhere, or you can simply lift off the top box
and place it on a new floor and stand elsewhere as a new colony. You will need to add a full complement of frames with foundation and will probably need to feed them until they become fully established as a colony in their own
right.
2/ If you want to create several new colonies, you can use the contents of the combined hive to make up a number of Nucs each with a frame feeder and their own sealed Queen cell. Place these in a ring around where the
original main hive stood with the entrances all facing inwards like the spokes of a wheel. Any returning foragers to where the main hive stood will distribute themselves around the nucs and each one should eventually have a
mated and laying Queen after which time you can move them to their ultimate destination.
3/ If you simply want to keep the hive intact and maximise your honey production, you can cull the old Queen below and merge both hives using newspaper between the top and bottom colonies. You now have a “Super Hive”
with a huge workforce and young Queen that can generate large amounts of honey from the available forage.
Alternately, if space is tight in your apiary, you can simply carry on with your double hive and two Queens, making sure that you add supers as required to both sections. Don’t forget that its still possible (although unlikely) for
one or both colonies to swarm if you don’t keep an eye on them throughout the season!

23. Back to Black Bees....
Friday, 11 January 13
So, now that you know how to breed bees, it makes sense to think about the types of bees you want in your apiary. Although its difficult, it is possible to rate and select colonies with the
characteristics that you value (such as docility) and actively breed from these so that you at least get a chance of getting the bees you want.
Ideally we want to get back to something close to our native Black Bee, but whilst this is important, we should not sacrifice docile behaviour along the way. It will take a long time to gradually
remove the unwanted influence of almost a 100 years of introduced, foreign bees. However, anything we can do now will help future generations of beekeepers.

24. Measuring Wing Morphology
Can use various means to
measure “Britishness” of bees
The best is to probably to use
wing morphology
Cubital Index =
Take sample of 30 bees from a This Length
hive and measure layout of
wing veins Divided by
This Length
Can automate with scanner
and computer
Results give you a good
indication of “Blackness”
Friday, 11 January 13
Morphology - or the study of form and structure - is one way to differentiate species and sub species of living organisms. This can be applied to honey bees to check the degree of
hybridization and select the potentially best breeding stock.
Whilst British Black Bees have a number of identifying characteristics, the one that is the best indication of the bees race is the layout of the veins in the wings. Where honey bee wings are
concerned the challenge for most beekeepers is to measure two properties known as cubital index and discoidal shift.
Cubital Index is the ratio of the lengths of two veins on edges of the cubital cells. Discoidal Shift is an angle showing how a vein junction (the discoidal point D above) is shifted towards or
away from the wingtip relative to other vein junctions. More information on this method is available at www.bibba.com.

25. Creating a Queen Rearing Programme
Create an interest group with FBKA
Approach BIBBA for advice and expertise
Choose best bees to potentially breed from
Need to focus on raising good quality
drones
These lead to better Queens and better
bees for all....
Friday, 11 January 13
All beekeepers in the FBKA should be capable of raising their own Queens. It’s simple to do, requires minimal kit and is good for the environment rather than buying in suspect Queens from
overseas.
I would also like to take this a stage further and create a Bee Breeding group within the FBKA that would use the Wing morphology techniques to rate our colonies in regards to their
closeness to British Black Bee standards, and then breed from the best behaved colonies to create a source of high quality Queens and Nucs for our members....
If you’ve read this and want to have a go, please contact Simon Cavill and lets get breeding!

26. Summary
Breeding Queens is easy
Everyone should have a go
The methods we have shown
work for both;
Swarm Management
and Queen Rearing
Use wing morphology to identify
suitable “Black Bee” colonies
Lets create a Queen rearing
program within the FBKA
Talk to BIBBA
Build a suitable Queen
rearing apiary
Friday, 11 January 13
It’s clear that something has changed hugely with our bees behaviour since the mid 20th Century. There are many newsreels and films from the 1930‘s and 1940‘s showing how UK bees
were so docile that beekeepers rarely required veils, let alone the bee suits and gloves we take for granted now.
I suspect that a lot of that bad behaviour has come from the continued importation of Queens from overseas unsuited to our conditions. But we as beekeepers are also very much to blame
by tolerating aggressive colonies and wearing thick bee suits and gloves to protect ourselves when we should really be addressing the root causes by removing and re-queening with good
quality, locally raised bees with characteristics close to the native British Black Bee but are docile above all.
If enough of our members are interested, I’ll contact BIBBA and investigate joining their Queen rearing program.