A queen bee is defined as a fully fertile female of a bee hive or a colony of bees. It is responsible for the genetic traits of the colony. She is able to guide all the workers besides laying eggs which are prerequisites in her title.
She is bought from a breeder and can be shipped to different locations via mail.
What do you need to prepare? On average, a buyer is expected to spend a maximum of $100 and a minimum of $25.
How Much Is A Queen Bee Worth?
Why do these queens have such a high demand? The reasons are quite straightforward. They are reliable and easy to access whenever there are complications linked to their hive.
They are important and the only female with mature ovaries and the supreme females of the hive.
During a single year, they can lay an astonishing number of 200,000 eggs.
During this cycle, there will be a rise in productivity of worker bees, which will allow an increase in productivity of the hive. He queens also produce a chemical scent that helps regulate unity in the colony.
With so many reasons, losing a queen is something a colony needs to avoid stepped on.
Based on some conditions, the price may shift from time to time.
For a healthy, well-bred, and productive queen bee, the price usually ranges from $25 to $40, not including transport fees.
In general, market prices set the upper limits of the most expensive queen bees at around $70 to $100, without regard to breed. In an open market, some can even be sold for much higher prices.
What Makes A Valuable Marketable Queen Bee?
In the larval stage of a bee’s life, two things which are fertilization and feeding will determine its worth.
During the process of egg deposition, a queen spherically cuts the fertilization of each egg fertilization she intends to drop via her oviduct.
You will find either worker bees or queen fertilized eggs. Laid eggs that are not fertilized by the queen will become drones.
Deciding to feed turns an egg into a worker or a queen.
Mandibular glands of nurse bees are said to produce a unique nutrient rich substance which guarantees the growth of larva into queen bees.
This operation is directed by the prior queen’s hormone production.
What other factors make a queen bee valuable
Health
Focusing on the value of the Queen bee, its health is crucial.
A queen bee’s health is evaluated primarily on the best she can do to maintain hive productivity and how efficiently she can lay eggs to sustain a healthy population.
If she cannot manage this, the colony will cap a new queen. This also occurs if she starts showing signs of senescence.
To eliminate waste of resources, queens are typically labeled with colored tags corresponding to the year of their reign. Economically speaking, a younger queen fetches a higher price.
Species
Some popular species of honey bees are deemed inferior and thus more expensive than other species.
After years of attempting to artificially select some traits, several breeds of bees have been created.
The species you want to choose should have the traits that you require.
For Instance, one that is docile and produces honey in large amounts.
They also need to be hardy to the climatological conditions of your area.
Some of the most sought–after species of honeybees are the Carniolan and Buckfast honeybees.
Breeding
Queens coming from productive colonies and having shown positive characteristics are prioritized for breeding.
Other prioritized queen bees are those from hygienic and disease-free colonies.
Backyard Bee Keeping
Backyard beekeeping is a fascinating activity that contributes significantly to the health of honeybee populations.
People are increasingly interested in beekeeping as they attempt to live and eat more sustainably.
A home beehive brings your landscape to life by pollinating your plants for maximum output.
Your efforts are, of course, rewarded with a wealth of pure, golden honey right from the comb.
This raw, unpasteurized honey is considerably sweeter and healthier than grocery store honey, which has been pasteurized, which destroys many of honey’s valuable components.
Backyard beekeeping does not require a lot:
- Bees require water, sunlight, a solid hive, and may require nourishment at certain times of the year. If possible, situate the hive against a sheltered fence or tree line.
- Every day, bees will travel a significant distance to obtain enough pollen. Pollen is produced by flowers, and it is what bees eat. While it is not necessary to have a blossoming flower bed in your yard, having one can be helpful.
The American Golden Italian Honeybee (Apis mellifera ligustica) is likely your best bet for a DIY apiary.
They are excellent honey producers with mild dispositions, have a high tolerance to illness and natural enemies, and endure winter.
They also appear to be less prone to swarming than other strains.
How Do You Get A Queen Bee For Your Hive?
Any fertilized egg has the potential to become a queen.
What the larva eats influences whether the bee becomes a queen or a worker.
Queens are created from larvae picked by worker bees and nurtured to become sexually mature; each hive usually contains just one adult mated queen.
Usually, the bees will follow her and aggressively guard her.
Package Bees
You can purchase packaged bees by ordering them from your local beekeeper supply or local beekeeper association.
Most packages will contain queens. If the package does not contain a queen, the supplier should introduce the queen to the workers.
This tiny cage can be wood, wire, or plastic.
Inside the package, she is not kept alone.
The queen is kept with a few worker bees that help her feed and take care of her until she is released.
Most beekeepers use unique queen introduction frames.
Works Well: The most common method of introducing the queen is using the indirect method. As the worker bees slowly eat through the food plug, they become familiar with the new queen.
Nucleus Hives
A nucleus hive, commonly known as a nuc, is a half-sized colony.
It has five frames of combs, bees, honey, baby bees, and the queen bee.
Purchasing a nucleus is a bit riskier than packaged bees because the honeycomb can spread pests and diseases from the donor hive to your hive.
Alternatively, you can purchase the queen bee online and have her shipped to you.
How to Identify the Quality of a Young Queen Bee during Purchase?
You can identify a queen bee according to:
- her appearance
- behavioral attributes
- actual performance
- and progeny good queen should have a large thorax and a lengthy, tapering abdomen that is completely distended along the sides
A juvenile queen bee’s long belly extends past the tips of her wings, creating the impression that she has short wings.
Unlike other bees, she has a sleek, black hairless back, while most workers have furry behinds.
Worker bees have black legs, but queen bees have long, pale legs.
How to Buy a Queen Bee
The queen is the single most important bee in the colony.
Thus if you want to ensure that the hive is in good order, you may have to shell out some money to buy a queen.
Bees from a breeding program are likely to be more expensive. Breeder queens are produced and artificially inseminated with chosen drone semen.
Mated queens fly free and mate with drones in the area.
Breeders will then introduce drones to increase the queens’ chance to mate with drones with desired characteristics.
Keep In Mind – Today it is easy to purchase online: However, you need to inquire about the live arrival guarantees before mailing the queen. If the queen dies upon arrival, call the supplier immediately, and they will advise you on the steps to take.
If you cannot buy a queen bee due to any given reason for example unavailability, you don’t have to worry.
If your colony is healthy and has a good population of bees, it can raise a new queen if you give them fresh eggs from a different colony.
Final Thoughts
No bee colony can survive without a queen.
The queen needs to be replaced within 4-6 weeks. Fortunately, you can buy queen bees online.
They are usually shipped in small cages with some young worker bees to feed and protect the queen until it is released.