👑 Requeening 101: Why, When, and How

Even the best queens don’t last forever.

As spring ramps up and colonies surge with energy, now is the time to check in on your queens and make sure your hives are set up for success. Requeening isn’t just for failing colonies—it’s a proactive move that can keep your apiary thriving through the season and beyond.

🐝 Why Requeening Matters

The queen is the heart of the hive. She lays up to 2,000 eggs a day at her peak, and her pheromones hold the colony together. But queens don’t stay strong forever. Over time, they slow down, start laying spotty brood, or produce fewer pheromones—causing the hive to grow restless or even aggressive.

And in Central Texas, where open mating means you’re at the mercy of local drone genetics, a queen raised from a swarm or supersedure event can bring some real spice to your bee yard.

By requeening on your terms, you get:

• A younger, more vigorous queen
• Better brood patterns and population build-up
• Reduced swarm risk
• More predictable temperament and genetics

📆 When to Requeen

Spring is hands-down the best time to requeen. Colonies are booming, resources are abundant, and new queens are readily available. It’s also the time when failing queens can really drag down your honey production or put your hives at risk of swarming.

You might consider requeening if:

• Brood patterns are spotty or shrinking
• You see lots of drone brood in worker cells (a sign of a failing queen)
• The hive is becoming aggressive or erratic
• You’ve found multiple queen cells and want to avoid a swarm
• You’re doing splits and need to start fresh

🛠️ How to Requeen

1. Find and remove the old queen. Be gentle. She did her job.
2. Introduce the new queen in a cage with a candy plug.
3. Wait 3–5 days before checking for release and acceptance.
4. Watch their behavior. If they’re calm and feeding her through the cage, you’re in good shape. If they’re clinging tight or trying to sting, she may be in danger.

It’s best to do your splits before you have your queens in hand. That way, you can assess exactly how many colonies are queenless and how many mated queens you’ll need.

Pro Tip: Reach out to someone like us ahead of time to check on queen availability and even tentatively reserve queens for pickup on a set date. That gives you the flexibility to get your splits done, pinch queens if needed, and see how it goes — without the added time pressure of having live queens in hand while you’re still hunting for old queens (which is already stressful enough!).

🚩 What About Queen Cells?

Finding queen cells during inspection? Don’t panic. They might be swarm cells, supersedure cells, or emergency cells—and each means something different. Pinching queen cells isn’t always the right move. This Saturday’s workshop covers all of that (come by if you’re local!).

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In short: Don’t wait for your bees to make the decision for you. A strong queen means a strong season—and spring is your moment to get ahead of the curve.

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Want help requeening or need a mated queen for your own hive? Reach out—we’ve got queens banked and ready to go.

📍 Visit us: Charlie Bee Company
📅 Saturday Workshop: "Queen Cells: What Now?" – 9 AM at the shop
#beeboy