How To Raise Honey Bee Queens

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In this article, we look at how to raise honey bee queens. Queen rearing is a fun part of beekeeping. Rearing a few queens for your own operation is very different from rearing queens for profit. 

If we look at the natural cycle in a beehive bees raise queens to allow for swarming and hive renewal. 

How To Raise Queen Bees

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If you were to produce queens that perform well in your local conditions, those queens will have a niche market as locally adapted queens.

Local Genetics

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How To Produce Queen Cells

I have fiddled with making my own queen cups and grafting cells

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Queen Cells For Sale

If you are selling queens to friends and acquaintances in your area, you can sell queen cells which can be introduced into their hives.

To produce mated queens on a large scale you will require small mating boxes. I have used boxes similar to these ones in the past and found they worked well.

Producing Mated Queens

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If we work with the natural systems in a hive and use our understanding of technology, we can produce a lot more queens than a hive would produce naturally.

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