Queen Spotting
Why it is important to find the Queen:
The Queen is important to find during any hive inspection because it shows that the hive is in good health, and the colony will continue to thrive and develop.
A queen and her attendants! Queen bees attract worker bees to them with a pheromone. This pheromone triggers the workers to take care of the of her. They feed, groom and even carry her excrements out of the hive!
What the Queen looks like:
Queen Bees are a little bit longer than regular worker bees. The Queen is the longest bee in the colony, she has a long, tapered and pointed abdomen as well as a large thorax. Queens colors will vary based on their breed, (Italians are light gold, Carniolan, a deep black)
Hint: Look for a small circle of bees. Usually there is a small group of attendants all facing her in a circle that watch over her and take care of her every need. They feed, clean and groom her.
What to do if you cannot find the Queen:
Don’t Panic! First search for evidence that she is there. Look out for laid eggs or larvae. Carefully go frame by frame and look closely, starting on the outside and working your eye inside. Be sure the check the edges and both sides carefully before placing that frame back into the hive.
When you cannot find the queen, start looking for eggs. They can be tricky to spot, hold the frame up with the sun over your back shining onto the frame. Look closely into the comb and see if you can spot white little pins. If you find eggs, this indicates that the queen was in the hive three days ago.
If you cannot find the queen or any eggs, close up the hive and wait a week or so to do another hive inspection. Start again by looking frame by frame, if there is no queen and no eggs, the hive most likely is queen-less. If the bees have a high temperament and more aggressive then usual, that is a sign that they are queen-less.
Next Steps:
If you see eggs but no queen, look for queen cells. This means that the bees know they are queen-less and they have started feeding one or more of the eggs royal jelly to turn them into a new queen.
If you do not see a queen or eggs: Contact your local beekeeping group to see if anyone has queen bees for sale or look online for local queen bees. Individual queens can be bought online and received by mail. They are sent in small cages with attendants inside the cages. Queens should be bought from a reliable source, which guarantees their health. They are recommended to be bought buy a local source because they are already used to your environment, weather and seasonal conditions, which makes their survival rate higher.
