On this topic — the queen and her quality — many beekeeper mistakes are possible. It can be difficult to ascertain the true cause of apparent deficiencies in colony health that appear to be the fault of the queen. Sometimes, the need for queen replacement seems cut and dried, such as when a colony is aggressive. However, even in this, there can be ambiguity.
It is true that if a colony’s aggression is genetic, replacing the queen is the answer. When a colony of bees is small, like a newly installed package or brand-new nuc, they are almost always easy to get along with, and especially in the spring when there is an abundant nectar flow. Then later, when the colony is full-sized, their true personality comes out. But also, non-genetic issues can cause aggression in a colony: lack of nectar flow, nightly attacks by four-footed predators, daily attacks by winged predators (birds or insects), clumsy handling by the beekeeper, and loss of the queen.
One key to avoiding mistakes in beekeeping is to slow down our decision-making. Getting in your colony one day and getting an instant dose of venom may make you feel like pinching the queen right then, but wait … look around for evidence of the problems listed above, put a robbing screen on and a not-welcome mat out front, and give them one more chance. Let a week pass before deciding to requeen.
Another easy way to make a mistake is to wait too long to make the decision. Give any apparent issue in the colony two weeks to be resolved and then make a decision and move on it. If you have attempted to make improvements and it isn’t really helping, don’t just keep hoping for a miracle or pouring resources into a bottomless pit while weakening a stronger colony.
Doom to boom
Another top reason for requeening is the colony’s failure to build up quickly. This might be the fault of a poorly mated or old queen, but it might also be poor forage, disease in the brood, too few nurse bees, or not enough foragers. Experiments have been done in which a queen from a poorly performing colony was switched with a queen from a strong colony.1 The apparently poor queen suddenly performs quite well in her new home.
I am not recommending moving queens from one colony to another. You can introduce disease along with a queen. What I have done is switch the positions of the two colonies. Physically move the strong colony to the position of the weak one, and vice versa. This can be a veritable miracle; the forager bees from the strong colony go right into the hive that is where their home has always been, bringing with them a fantastic work force and much-needed nectar and pollen. Suddenly the queen that seemed doomed lays many more eggs, wax starts to be drawn, and the population begins to boom …
