One of my favorite statements in beekeeping comes from Brother Adam, creator of the Buckfast bee and pioneer in the world of honey bee genetics. When asked what average beekeepers could do to improve their own bee genetics, he didn’t recommend getting Buckfast bees, or even cross-breeding with Buckfast bees. He said that each one of us should replace the queens in the half of our colonies that did the poorest with queens raised from our own best colonies. The answers we need could be right out there in our very own apiaries.
It has been said that good genetics get washed out in just a couple of generations of queens because they mate with whatever drones are out there, and they fly so far that it is difficult to control those genetics. I let that discourage me for too many years. Now, rather than continuing to prop up poor-performing colonies and rely on putting chemicals in my hives, I am raising the strongest bees I can, not only for my own sake, but for bee-kind in general. I am buying good stock from Northern breeders, raising new queens from my best, and strongly encouraging and helping my neighbors and bee-club members to do the same. It is the only way we will ever win.
One way to fail … not trying. Doing the same thing year after year and expecting a different result is the definition of failure.
Raising better queens is a daunting idea for many beekeepers. Stories about grafting larvae, making cell builders, and setting up mating nucs sound too complicated for a backyard beekeeper. Even sideline or commercial beekeepers may think they don’t have time to invest in that kind of thing. (None of that is true, by the way.) But anyway, there are ways to raise great queens without learning to graft.
The first step is to sit down with your hive records and make good choices: Which half aren’t so great, which half are good enough to keep their genetics, and which few at the top are so great that you would love it if all your colonies were so good? When a roomful of beekeepers were asked what makes a great queen, 60 different qualities were listed. Keeping mite numbers low should be at the top of every list. Beyond that, well, it’s up to you …
