Reserve Queens: Creating and Overwintering Mating Nucs

This article details the process of creating micro bee colonies and techniques for maintaining reserve queens, which are essential for safeguarding an apiary against the consequences of sudden queenlessness.

Why Maintain Reserve Queens?

Professional apiary management requires having reserve queens (so-called spare queens), which allow for a swift response in case a queen is lost in a strong colony, exhibits low fecundity, or has physical defects (e.g., damaged leg or wing). It is generally accepted that the number of reserve queens should be about 10% of the total number of colonies in the apiary. These queens, overwintered in small units (nuclei), are extremely valuable in spring, as they allow for saving orphaned colonies without having to wait for new brood to be reared.

Creating Mating Nucs and Nuclei – Step-by-Step Instructions

The process of creating mating nucs involves forming small colonies where a young queen reaches sexual maturity and begins laying eggs.

Preparing Equipment and Stocking

• Mating nucs of various sizes are used (e.g., for 1/2, 1/4 of a standard frame).

Forming the Colony (Stocking)

• From a strong colony, take 1–2 frames with brood and settled bees, and 1 frame with food stores.
• Additionally, shake bees off frames with open brood to ensure a predominance of young bees (so-called nurse bees), which accept queens better and do not return to the parent colony.
• It is also possible to create frameless nuclei using only young bees, utilizing special entrance isolators; such bees, after 2 days in a cool place, are ready to accept a queen.

Introducing the Queen or Queen Cell

• A mature queen cell (on the 11th day after transferring the larva) or an unmated queen is introduced into the prepared mating nuc.
• After about 10–12 days, the nuc is checked for the presence of the first brood, which confirms successful mating.

For breeding success, maintaining the proper microclimate and food stores is crucial:

1. Temperature: In the queen-rearing area, bees maintain a stable 34–35.4°C.
2. Food: The nuc must have constant access to food stores. In small units, honey-sugar candy or syrup (2:1 ratio) is used.
3. Ventilation: Mating nucs require ventilation holes (e.g., 40 mm in diameter in the bottom, protected with mesh), especially during transport or when kept in a cool place.

Strategies for Overwintering Reserve Queens

Keeping queens until spring requires larger units than typical mating nucs – queens are overwintered in nuclei on 4–6 frames.

Group Overwintering Method (Shared Heating): The most effective method is placing 2–3 nuclei in one hive (e.g., a horizontal hive), separated by airtight, thin partitions. This allows the small colonies to form one common winter cluster around the central partition, enabling mutual heating and drastically reducing food consumption.

Requirements for Overwintering Nuclei:

• Bee Mass: A nucleus overwinters safely if the bee mass is at least 600 g. In the case of group overwintering (behind a partition), this mass can be lower: 400–500 g.
• Food Stores: A standalone nucleus requires 6-8 kg of food stores. For colonies heating each other, about 4 kg of food per unit is sufficient.
• Location: Nuclei overwinter best in dark rooms with a stable temperature of 6–8°C, which provides them with peace and minimal energy consumption.

Systematically creating nuclei with reserve queens at the end of summer (during the main honey flow) not only guarantees apiary safety but also allows for the dynamic development of beekeeping operations from the very first days of spring.