The queen is the genetic foundation of every colony, and the decision about which queens to breed from is the single most powerful lever a beekeeper has for improving their bees over time. This category covers queen rearing in practical terms — cell builders, grafting, mating nucs, introduction methods — alongside the broader questions of bee genetics, selection, and what “improvement” actually means in the context of UK beekeeping conditions.
Posts here range from step-by-step accounts of what works at apiary scale to more analytical pieces on the genetics of traits like swarming tendency, temperament, and varroa resistance. The debate about local versus imported queens also features here — examined properly, with reference to what the science actually shows about local adaptation, rather than the version that circulates on forums. If you want to take control of your queen supply and understand the biology behind it, this is where to start.
What the evidence says about breeding honey bees, from my perspective in the UK Given that we are now into the autumn (fall, for those over the pond) in my area, there is not a great deal of beekeeping for me to do. I could write about some actual beekeeping, but have decided to turn … Read more
An imaginary argument about breeding better bees when you can’t control the drones Sophie is imaginary. She is a composite of arguments I have heard and read over the years, and she does not speak for BIBBA, although she may well be a member. The Walrus is, of course, me. Every figure either of them … Read more
Spring is the perfect time to make queens — the bees are already primed to do it. From simple queenless splits to a double-nuc cell builder that produces 20 quality cells per batch, here’s how to work with the bees rather than against them.
Whether you want to raise a handful of queens without grafting, turn a swarm-prone double-brood colony into two thriving units, or run a continuous cell-building system through the summer, there’s an approach here that suits your scale and ambition. The bees already know how to do this; your job is simply to set up the right conditions.
No specialist equipment required — just a nucleus box, good timing, and a willingness to let the bees do what they do best. Queen rearing is one of the most rewarding skills in beekeeping, and it is far more accessible than most beekeepers realise.
Beekeepers blame queens for everything from bad temper to poor honey crops. But quality in the strict sense means one thing: reproductive competency. Here is what the research says about how to assess it — and why the old timers saying queens aren’t what they used to be may well be right.
“Keep local bees.” Or, increasingly, “Keep locally adapted bees.” It’s among the most repeated lines in UK beekeeping, usually delivered with the confidence of a law of physics. And to be fair, it often works as advice. Local queens can perform well, and local colonies can overwinter reliably. But the phrase “local bees” is doing … Read more
I used to think that the goal of the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA) is primarily about encouraging beekeepers to raise queens from selected breeder-queens, and thus improve the quality of their stock. I don’t think many people would argue against such a noble cause. It’s in the name of the organisation; if … Read more
I went to a talk recently, at my local beekeeping association, to hear about ‘sustainable queen production’. The speaker is a genuine chap, who believes in what he is doing, but I found myself disagreeing with nearly everything he said. Well, maybe I disagreed with half, and most of the rest was describing a type … Read more
It should be fairly straightforward, shouldn’t it? A colony makes several virgin queens, eventually whittles them down to one, and she flies off on several mating flights. She returns to the welcoming embrace of her workers, and begins the long process of laying hundreds or thousands of eggs every day during the summer, autumn, and … Read more