your new queen cells to requeen weak colo- nies. The break in brood cycle that comes with using queen cells lasts more than two weeks. That break will help reduce mite in- festations. When capped brood is removed from a strong colony, placing foundation into the middle of the brood nest to replace the frame is good. The bees perceive the in- crease in space within the brood nest as a sign that swarming is not necessary.
Remember to leave a couple of queen cells in the colony that donated their queen and a frame of brood for the purpose of queen cell construction. These queen cells will allow that colony to requeen itself. You can take as few as three colonies and make up 3 nucleus colonies resulting in an api- ary of 6 hives instead of 3. This procedure will not only make more colonies but re- duce swarming in the colonies you have. It also reduces mites because brood is not available for at least two weeks. Your new queens will go on mating flights. It is not likely but possible that a queen can be con- sumed by a bird on her mating flight. That is a risk you must take to get new queens for nuclei.
I met Mel Disselkoen and bought his book at our state beekeepers’ meeting. He has developed a method of raising queens similar to what I have described. Instead of cutting up a brood comb, he recommends using a hive tool to pull down the comb below day-old larvae. The opening of that brood comb below the right age larvae re- places cutting the entire comb at the bot- tom. In my opinion, this is a brilliant way to reduce the work, make a few queens and make up multiple nucleus colonies from 1 or 2 favored donor colonies. The queens must still be removed from these colonies to stimulate queen rearing.
Mel calls his method On-the-Spot Queen Rearing. The book title is abbreviated “OTS Queen Rearing”. I am so intrigued by his method; I will try it this spring and report the process. If you are interested in raising a few queens in a hobby apiary, this book is highly recommended. The explanation in this article is oversimplified. Take my word for it, you need the book. It explains the timeline, his notching method and method- ology in great detail. Mel has raised queens commercially. This book is a great refer- ence, even if you decide to use the Doolittle method described above.
One other thing must be said here. There was a conversation between myself and a fellow beekeeper recently about “Organic Beekeeping”. Many hobbyist beekeepers want to keep bees chemical free. To them this means skipping treatments for mites, Nosema, small hive beetles and all other honey bee pests and diseases. They are mis- guided in assuming the bees in a small api- ary will adapt and thrive once the diseases have been exposed to natural selection. There are numerous erroneous assumptions with this idea.
First, the circumscription of the geo- graphic and population sample size in a
single apiary is exceedingly small. The chances of those few colonies of bees hav- ing a worldwide bee-saving genetic trait is so minute as to be less likely than win- ning a world-wide lottery. You have a much greater chance of being struck by lightning. Queen breeders source from hundreds and even thousands of colonies. There is talk of the genetics in these commercial operations being too narrow as we speak. It has taken years with thousands of colonies involved to develop hygienic traits in honey bees. This is not going to happen in your back yard. These hygienic traits can be purchased from many queen breeders. Why would you want any other type of bee? Breeding from local survivors is something that was re- cently recommended in this column. Local survivors probably have hygienic traits.
Secondly, you are not trying to find one genetic trait. Hygienic behavior itself re- quires multiple traits. But why would any- one think they can develop multiple traits for numerous diseases, some bacterial, oth- ers viral, where every disease requires its own set of genetic defenses. Couple this with trying to gain genetic traits that stop mites and where are you? If our scientific community cannot come up with a simple solution, why do you have any confidence that your backyard apiary is going to save the world of beekeeping?
Finally, it is not responsible as a bee- keeper to allow your bees to harbor diseas- es and mites that affect others bees. There are organic solutions to some of these prob- lems. Hygienic bees are one solution. For- mic acid used in the fall is an organic solu- tion. Bees, ants and wasps use formic acid to keep their homes clean. Formic acid can reduce mite populations in your bee colo- nies significantly and it is “Organic”. We now know that some of the diseases in hon- ey bees can be transferred to other social bees and perhaps even some solitary bees. Spreading disease to these wild pollinators is irresponsible. We need our wild pollina-
tors. They supplement what our honey bees are doing for pollination. Wild pollinators work plants that bees skip. There is much pollination that wild pollinators cannot ac- complish. This is especially true in large agricultural production. The bottom line is we need all the pollinators we can get. Wildlife food plants are most likely polli- nated by wild pollinators.
Treat your bees for mites each fall. Use screen bottom boards. Use health-promot- ing products for your bees. Feed sugar and or honey in the fall in large quantities to build strong colonies going into winter. It is likely your bees have Nosema. Con- sider treatment for this pest as well. Trap and remove small hive beetles. Responsible beekeeping means taking good care of your bees. There are good physical and mechani- cal controls and natural chemicals for most bee problems. Use these products as indi- cated on the labels. You can keep bees natu- rally using good health practices.