Howdy All I just wanted to tell you that I have requeened my four hives with fresh young queens …. and yes ladies it is the way of the world to replace your old queen with a fresh young one regularly!!! It went very well and I have four very strong hives coming into spring. At $20 a pop they had better be good. I’ve also figuired out the varroa managment strategy around here and I’m in good shape really … i’ll have to move my hives late summer so they can poison the wild bees but i should be good otherwise.Â
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I\’d like to replace my old Queen for $20. Can you order me one?
I\’M JUST KIDDING SHELLEY!!!!
So the plan is to kill all the wild bees that are infected? You basically have to hide your bees during that time?
Don’t the other bees catch on that she’s not the same old Queen Liz that they’ve grown to love and cherish? I would expect them to gather in small groups and mutter….perhaps raise a few signs….next a work stoppage….against this imposter. Perhaps request an audience and present a set of demands….that sort of thing. Surely they won’t take this lying down!!!!!
Scott, I’ve got a bee picture up on my Flickr site…thought of you while post-processing. Was gonna blow up the bees to king (oops) queen-size, but then after all, they’re only bees and they all look alike, so I didn’t.
Ian: Yes the plan is to move all managed hives IN the zone to the north island and to kill all the wild bees, infected or not and then reintroduce managed hives next winter. In january I’ll have to move my bees away and hide them while they bait and kill the wold bees.
Terry Sadly i trick the workers into accepting the new queen. Its like playing god. BTW its a great bee picture. I LIKE it. I’d like to talk with you about digital cameras sometime,. I may have to take the plunge!