Northamptonshire Beekeepers' Association (NBKA) Registered Charity No. 295593
©NBKA 2007
A member organisation representing beekeepers in the
County of Northamptonshire
BEE-
Queen rearing using Wilson's method
Donald Sims in "Sixty Years with Bees" recommends Wilson's system of raising young queens. This was described in BEEKEEPING in May 1948 and an extract is reproduced here from both sources.
The following equipment will be required
(a) A spare brood-
(b) A cover board in which entrances have been cut in the upper rim on the two sides of about 40 mm.
(c) A queen excluder.
(d) Some thick sugar syrup.
(e) Six empty combs. These are to be filled with syrup. This is easily done if the syrup is poured from an ordinary garden water can fitted with a rose.
(f) a syrup feeder,
(g) a division board to divide the brood box into two equal parts.
When the date is decided, the beekeeper opens the hive on a fine morning and takes
out 4 combs, two with young brood and two with riper brood. With a half shake most
of the adhering bees will be thrown back into the hive. Should the queen be on any
of these combs, which is quite likely, she will fall back into the hive when the
combs are shaken. Place these four combs in the centre of the spare brood-
It has already been mentioned that in order to maintain and improve quality among
bees, selective breeding from proved queens is highly desirable. Young queens should
therefore be reared from the best of the previous year's queens. This is not difficult.
At the time of carrying out the second manipulation, go to a selected colony, remove
a comb and shake off the bees. This can be placed among the other combs in the top
box of the original colony. Re-
A good way is to use another spare brood-
As the flying bees will have returned to the original site this manipulation can
be the more readily done, but it may still be advisable to shake the bees off the
two combs of young brood to make sure that no queen cells are missed. It must be
remembered that this first batch of cells were built in what is sometimes called
panic conditions, and queens from such cells are not considered equal to swarm cells,
or supersedure cells. The building of these queen cells has been as it were sprung
upon the economy of the colony so it is probable there would be at first insufficient
royal jelly. It usually happens that only a few cells are built and probably the
larvae are not well nurtured.
After destroying these queen cells leave a space in the centre of the brood nest
for the comb of selected eggs. Remove the marked comb from the selected colony and
shake off most of the bees, not too violently. Have a. quick overall examination
to make sure the queen is not upon the comb and then insert it in the space left
in the centre brood nest of the new box.
Before removing the temporary box and replacing this box on the original site, remember
to refill all the brood combs with strong syrup. It is important to transfer the
comb of eggs quickly to avoid the possibility of chilling the young larvae. The second
batch of queen cells are likely to be better nurtured, and it is probable there will
be more of them, largely due to an increased supply of royal jelly. It can be truly
said that in the economy of a bee colony, demand creates the supply in other words
more bees will become engaged upon the production of royal jelly.
The beekeeper must
accurately record the date of this manipulation. All the queen cells now being built
will be due to emerge upon the same date. i.e.. in 16 days. There is risk that the
weather may be unfavourable, and that the bees may have but little opportunity of
foraging, and it is advisable, therefore, to refill the brood combs again with syrup
after about a week. The top box, meanwhile, can be fed with an ordinary rapid feeder.
The feeding of nuclei with sugar syrup should never be neglected.
The new batch of queens will be expected to emerge in 16 days. The third manipulation
can be carried out therefore on the 12th, 13th or 14th day. This consists simply
of again reversing the two boxes. The box with the queen goes below. while the box
with queen cells is placed upon the board above. In building up on this occasion
place supers over the bottom box. This box now will have collected most of the flying
bees.
It will be strong in bees and brood and generally in good fettle for a honey flow'.
This manipulation is completed by dividing this top box into two by the insertion
of a division board. A number of queen cells will be found upon the marked comb,
and one cell at least must be placed in each compartment. As these cells are from
selected eggs, the beekeeper will wish to use the remaining cells which can be cut
from the comb. If there are sufficient cells two can be safely inserted in each compartment.
Downstairs is now a strong colony. with the queen. plenty of flying bees, brood.
etc.. so it is well balanced. Upstairs, there will be two nuclei each using a side
entrance. It has already been noticed that the flying bees belonging to this box
will have gone to augment the strength of the downstairs box; in place of these the
nuclei will have gained the flying bees that previously were using both entrances
while the queen right colony was upstairs. This is important. In the North beekeepers
find that the most frequent cause of failure in making nuclei is robbing. This is
due to the fact that when newly-
In a few days the queens emerge and become mated and the beekeeper will have three colonies under one roof. This is a great economy in equipment. The beekeeper who is fortunate enough to get nuclei fairly early in the season finds that he is in a strong position for dealing with any eventualities. He has his increase with sufficient time to build up strength before the winter.
"Sixty years with Bees" by Donald Sims can be obtained from Northern Bee Books
Articles from previous editions
