There is a perception among beekeepers that commercially bred queen bees are essential to achieve very populous colonies and therefore large yields of honey. This is not necessarily always the case because local bees which are endemic to an area for several generations can also be very successful.
Colonies which have been hived from swarms from tree trunks and cavities within buildings are known as feral bees.
These bees are adapted to their local conditions and react differently to commercially bred colonies. I have found in the past that colonies with a bought queen will build up their numbers very quickly when the weather warms up after the winter and if there is a nectar flow will exploit it efficiently. However, when conditions deteriorate, these colonies can build up too quickly and starve during a cold spring,whereas the local queens will lay less at the start of spring and only reach full capacity when conditions are suitable.
Last season I took 20 newly hived feral swarms collected from Melbourne suburbs to a forest site in West Gippsland and left them to forage on a Messmate Stringybark flow followed by Silverleaf Stringybark and Mountain Grey Gum in the autumn. All of these Eucalyptus species produce excellent pollen and copious nectar when conditions are favorable. The colonies built up into very populous hives and produced as much honey as commercially bred bees would have.
I am not suggesting here that beekeepers do not use well bred queens, indeed I prefer to use them for several reasons including the fact that they have a lovely calm temperament and are a pleasure to work with. The feral bees can be more feisty and would be difficult to handle by inexperienced apiarists.
The main point I am making is that what determines success in harvesting a crop of honey is conditions,conditions, conditions.
Comments
One response to “Conditions, conditions, conditions.”
Always a difficult decision to make, especially after a newly collected swarm is established. Do we take the chance that the colony will survive with good summer conditions and requeen early, the gamble will pay off handsomely if the conditions are good, with quick build up of populations and a lovely sea of golden Italian bees. If conditions are not so favorable as you point out, I find the new queens struggle with tough conditions, especially early, and at 20-ish dollars each, can be an expensive exercise.
The other thing to consider when deciding to requeen early, is that a black queen in a small swarm is far easier to locate than waiting a year while a small feral swarm builds to a large skanky feral swarm. Nothing more frustrating than having to dump a large swarm outside a hive to come back in through an ideal box and queen excluder to trap the queen in the small bottom box.
I’d love to hear from other readers with other tips and tricks picked up from their own requeening experiences.
Regards
Steve