requeen
To change or replace the queen bee of a colony of bees.
requeen: swap out the queen bee to restart a colony
Requeening is the deliberate removal of a laying queen from a hive and her replacement with another. The practice is essential beekeeping maintenance, performed to improve genetics, replace a failing queen, or rescue a queenless colony. A beekeeper locates the sitting queen on a comb, cages or removes her, then introduces a new queen, usually a mated female purchased from a commercial breeder or produced in a nucleus hive.
The timing and method matter greatly. A colony can detect a missing queen within hours, triggering frantic behavior and the construction of emergency queen cells. If requeening during this window, the new queen has a reasonable chance of acceptance. If the colony has already begun raising replacement queens, introducing a new adult queen may provoke a fatal attack. Many beekeepers therefore use a introduction cage: a small plastic or wooden box holding the new queen, complete with food, allowing workers to acclimate to her pheromone profile over three to seven days before she is released into the hive proper.
Why and when to requeen
A queen typically remains productive for two to three years, after which her egg-laying declines and the colony weakens. Queens can also fail due to viral infection, physical injury, or poor genetics. Commercial operations frequently requeen every spring or autumn to maintain population strength and maintain desired traits such as docility or productivity. Failing queens are identified by spotty brood patterns, drone laying, or sudden population collapse.
The genetics of the replacement queen directly influence the colony's temperament, disease resistance, and honey production. Queens from selected breeding lines cost between fifteen and fifty dollars depending on genetic credentials and source. A failed requeening, whether the new queen is killed or fails to lay, results in a queenless hive that eventually dwindles and dies without intervention. For this reason, confirmation that the new queen is laying worker brood is essential two to three weeks after introduction.