Whether your goal is to rear a few queen bees or thousands, this manual provides the basic knowledge and instruction to get you started and can be applied to beekeeping operations ranging from several thousand colonies to one or two.
A successtul queen bee producer is well organised, committed, and pays attention to hygiene, pest and disease status and environmental conditions at all apiaries: be they mating or queen breeding apiaries or those holding production and support colonies. With practice, you can refine your queen rearing methods to suit your operation and resources. This manual can always be your point of reference.
Rearing queen bees is a specialist job. It takes a significant level of experience and resources to produce good quality mated queens. In addition, rearing your own queen bees can be a lot of fun and can add an extra interest to your beekeeping.
Queens of superior quality result from a combination of:
* good drone rearing and stocking practices
* good queen rearing practices
* a program of continual stock selection.
Each of these three elements is addressed in-depth throughout this manual.
In beekeeping, hands-on practical training is indispensable and we suggest that you find work with a beekeeper or queen breeder. Even if you work for no pay, the beekeeper's years of experience and knowledge are a valuable resource that will pay off.
We also suggest that you join a local association such as your state apiarist association or local recreational beekeeper's association or club. Your skill level, the number of hives you have and the scale of your queen rearing operations will influence which group you choose.