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New Zealand Beekeeping Forums
Breeding Bees in New Zealand
What Happens to Old Queen Bees
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<blockquote data-quote="Alastair" data-source="post: 777" data-attributes="member: 13"><p>This video I shot today, just to correct what most of the books will tell you, being that when queen bees get old the bees kill them and make a new queen. This is a popular myth.</p><p></p><p>What actually happens in a natural hive when the queen is getting old, is that the bees first make a new queen. When this new queen hatches, her instinct is to seek out and kill any other queen she can find. But the bees protect the old queen and do not let the young queen attack her, at least at first. They wait until the new queen has mated and started laying eggs. Once that stage is reached the old queen is no longer needed and the bees allow the new queen to attack her. But the new queen cannot use her stinger now, because that has become part of her egg laying equipment. So instead, the new queen constantly badgers the old queen, climbing on it and biting it. The old queen loses her hair, her wings, maybe her legs, and in a few weeks is badgered to death. </p><p></p><p>This is why the two queens are often found close together. It is not, as some think, because they co exist peacefully. It is because the young queen follows the old queen around, to attack it.</p><p></p><p>The bees do not attack the old queen, and in fact at the end of this video when the old queen is by herself, you can see the bees tending for her and feeding her.</p><p></p><p>[MEDIA=youtube]IcJXxSgbzkw[/MEDIA]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Alastair, post: 777, member: 13"] This video I shot today, just to correct what most of the books will tell you, being that when queen bees get old the bees kill them and make a new queen. This is a popular myth. What actually happens in a natural hive when the queen is getting old, is that the bees first make a new queen. When this new queen hatches, her instinct is to seek out and kill any other queen she can find. But the bees protect the old queen and do not let the young queen attack her, at least at first. They wait until the new queen has mated and started laying eggs. Once that stage is reached the old queen is no longer needed and the bees allow the new queen to attack her. But the new queen cannot use her stinger now, because that has become part of her egg laying equipment. So instead, the new queen constantly badgers the old queen, climbing on it and biting it. The old queen loses her hair, her wings, maybe her legs, and in a few weeks is badgered to death. This is why the two queens are often found close together. It is not, as some think, because they co exist peacefully. It is because the young queen follows the old queen around, to attack it. The bees do not attack the old queen, and in fact at the end of this video when the old queen is by herself, you can see the bees tending for her and feeding her. [MEDIA=youtube]IcJXxSgbzkw[/MEDIA] [/QUOTE]
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