Young vigorous queens are essential to successful beekeeping. A young queen has maximum reproduction capacity for approximately two years, so it is important to replace the queen at regular intervals or when there is any sign of failure. Some beekeepers requeen annually rather than risk a queen failing during the production period of the second summer.

While it is easier to requeen in the spring because the colonies are smaller and the queen easier to find, there are several advantages to doing it in the fall. Northern bred queens preferred by many beekeepers are available only in the summer and fall. In addition, better climatic conditions and larger drone populations favor queen rearing and mating during the summer in comparison to early spring. Young vigorous queens lay later in the fall, so the colony has a higher percentage of young bees to survive the winter. Fall requeening stimulates rapid spring buildup and aids in swarm control. Finally, young queens start laying earlier in the spring and are less likely to be superseded the following year.

Requeening is most successful during a light nectar flow. Bees will more readily accept a new queen in a honey flow because the old worker bees are occupied with other duties. Young worker bees usually do not pose a threat. In the absence of a nectar flow, the colony should be fed. Introduce queens during the warmest part of the day, except when there is danger of robbing.

Early September, during the goldenrod flow, is an excellent time to requeen a colony. Because of the distinctive aroma associated with this honey flow, the odor of a new queen quickly will be masked. Have the queens arrive just before you intend to do the job. Do not start dequeening the colonies until the new queens are delivered. Requeening will be more successful if only a short time elapses between the time the old queen is killed and the new one introduced.

Several techniques commonly are used for queen introduction. Unfortunately, there is not one sure way of doing it. The first step in requeening is to find the old queen and kill her. Check for queen cells and remove them before attempting to introduce the new queen. Sometimes finding the old queen can be difficult. When this happens, let the colony become quiet, then remove the hive body with bees from the bottom board. In its place put an empty hive body, then put a queen excluder on the empty body leaving an open space about 2 inches wide at one side. Place the hive body with the bees on top of the queen excluder so that no bees can go below without going through the excluder. Remove the frames one at a time, shake the bees back into the open hive body, and push it back beneath the excluder. (See Figure 29.) Repeat this procedure until all combs are in the lower hive body, then push the excluder and the upper hive body over to cover the 2-inch space. If bees attempt to crawl out of the upper body, smoke them lightly to make them return to the inside; otherwise, the queen may escape. If large masses of bees collect on the inside of the hive, brush them onto the excluder.

Figure 29. Before a colony can be requeened, you must find the old queen and kill her. In difficult situations, find the queen by shaking the bees onto a queen excluder. The empty frames can be placed below. (Photo by W. W. Clarke, Jr.)

A simple way of introducing a queen is to insert the mailing cage between the top bars of two frames and have the bees release the queen from the cage. For best results, remove attendant bees from the queen cage before taking it to the bee yard. Just before placing the cage in the hive, take a sharp object such as a small nail and poke a tiny hole through the candy. Be careful not to injure the queen. Position the queen cage between two frames containing young brood so that the screened side is not flush against the comb. If the screened side faces downward (horizontal position), more bees will have contact with the screen, the queen, and her chemicals, which will increase the chances of her acceptance. If the cage is placed in a vertical position, the candy end should be up. Do not disturb the hive for at least a week. If the queen has not been released when you return to the hive, she may be set free with little danger.

The queen may be introduced with greater safety by using a push-in cage. This cage permits the queen to come in contact with the comb for a short time and take on the odor of the hive before she is released. A push-in cage is shaped like an open-sided box made from ordinary window screen or eight-mesh hardware cloth. It is made from a 4-inch-square piece of screen folded along each edge with the corners clipped to form four sides approximately 1/2 inch wide. Push the cage into the face of the comb over an area of emerging brood, preferably where there are a few cells of honey for food. It should be pushed deep enough into the face of the comb so that the bees cannot readily gnaw through the comb to reach the new queen. Release the new queen inside the cage with only those bees that are emerging from the comb. A few days later, remove the cage. In the interval, the queen will have been accepted by the emerging bees inside the cage and subsequently by the other bees of the colony.

Queens are accepted most readily by small colonies of young bees during a nectar flow. Make up a nucleus colony filled with combs of emerging bees and food. Feed the colony a light syrup a few days before and after you introduce a new queen directly to them. When she is laying well, unite the nucleus colony with the larger colony that needs to be requeened. Before introducing the nucleus colony, be sure the established colony is queenless and without queen cells. Remove the same number of frames making up the nucleus colony from the brood chamber of the colony to be requeened. Set the frames of the nucleus colony directly into the opening in the brood chamber and close up the hive.