Randy Oliver Queens Available Tuesday!

[Jennifer Radtke]

I will be picking up mated queens from Randy Oliver & have 5 available. 

Email me asap to reserve one:   jenn...@learnfromthebees.com

Please do read below, before asking me questions! There is thorough info about introducing queens, pickup, etc.!

Photos don't seem to be showing up, but you can see the full text with photos here.

Pickup Time: Tuesday, May 24th, 10am
@ BioFuel Oasis Cooperative, 1441 Ashby Ave., Berkeley
​Price: $55-$60 sliding scale per queen

About These Queens

• These are new spring queens mated in the past month in Grass Valley.
• They are unmarked.
• Photo to right is my 2020 Oliver queen, but they are many different colors (black, striped, orange, etc.).
• For 20+ years, the Olivers have breed for gentleness and honey production. About 5 years ago, Randy started a mite resistant breeding program.
• The mothers of these queens head hives that kept their mites at 0 or 1 for the last year and so were not treated. (Each year they treat the hives in the yard with higher mite loads, but leave hives with low mites untreated. In the spring, they breed from the hives that did not need treatment. This is usually 50-150 hives out of their ~1500 hives.)
• The Bay Area has higher mite pressure than in Grass Valley, so plan on testing and monitoring mites on these hives. In the past 3 years, we have found some hives headed by his queens to need less treatment. Exciting!
  ​

What to Do with a Queen/Making a Hive Queenless

• You need to make a hive queenless the day (or two) before you add a mated queen to a hive.
  • The best way to be successful with one of these queens is to make a split/nuc this Sunday or Monday & then put the mated queen in on Tuesday. (See below for the slow release method for best acceptance.)
  • If you make a hive queenless more than 1 day ahead of time (e.g. Sunday), you will want to search for queen cells the bees have made and cut them out. Otherwise, they may prefer their own queens rather than the mated one you are introducing. I recommend removing the queen cells when you take the cap off the candy, so that you remove all or most of them before the queen is released. If you've made the hive queenless the day before, don't bother looking for queen cells - leave the hive alone as it works through it queen's transition and hopefully accepts your new queen.
  • If you intend to replace a queen in a big hive, it's easier to make a split from the big hive & introduce this mated queen to the split. Then, at a later date, you can combine the hives and/or kill the old or defensive queen. A split/nuc will readily access a new mated queen, where a big hive is less likely to accept her. This also gives you time to find the queen you want to replace at your leisure.
• These are ways to be unsuccessful (have your hive kill the mated queen).
  These are precious queens & it would be great to put them into positive homes where they will live, be readily accepted, and produce drones that may carry mite resistant genetics. End of lecture. ;-)
  • If you have Laying Workers (patchy bits of drone brood and no other brood), they will NOT except a new queen. Combine them with a strong hive or let them die out.
  • If you don't have brood in a hive, it is likely you have a virgin queen that is in the process of mating. Wait 2 weeks and look for brood. It takes 5 weeks from when the old queen swarms/get killed till you see brood again in a hive. Be patient. If you introduce a mated queen to a hive like this, it's likely they will prefer their virgin queen and kill the mated queen.

​
​How to Introduce Your Mated Queen (Slow Release Method)​
​Eric Oliver, Randy's son, recommends this multi-day procedure to better your chances for queen acceptance in the hive:

1. Day 1 :
   1. Put a cap or scotch tape over the candy, which gives a longer time for the bees to accept the queen and protects her from being killed.
   2. Open up your hive.
   3. Put the queen cage in between two frames (ways listed below) in the middle of a box with a lot of bees. Close up the hive.
2. 2-3 days after Step 1:
   1. Open up your hive
   2. If you made your split/nuc earlier than Monday (e.g. Sunday), go through looking for queen cells that the bees made and cut them out.
   3. Remove the cap or scotch tape off your candy. This will allow the bees to eat through the candy and release the queen. Close up the hive
3. 1-2 days after Step 2 (taking cap off):
   1. Open up your hive.
   2. Check that candy is eaten and queen is released (Cage is empty). If candy is still present, open up the other exit in the cage or dig out candy so she can walk out.
4. A week after Step 3:
   1. Open up your hive.
   2. Verify that there are eggs/larvae in your hive. Note that bees will not always accept a new queen and may kill the new queen instead. We hope all goes well with your introduction of the queen and they do accept her.

How will the queen be transported?

The queen will be in a plastic queen cage (shown to the right). There is white candy in the long tube with a cap on the end. The queen cage will be surrounded by some attendant bees on the outside of the cage who will be feeding and taking care of the queen. We will put the cage and attendant bees in a plastic container with holes, so you can easily transport them home. Do NOT leave the container/queen in your car or in the sun (she will likely overheat and die).The queen should be added to your hive that day, the earlier the better, weather permitting. If you need to wait a few hours, put your plastic container inside your house, but not in the sun where it could overheat.

Where to add the queen:

You want to add her to the middle of a box where there are lots of bees. If your hive has brood, add her between two frames of brood in the middle of a box. For ease, add her to the top most box with brood, provided there are a lot of bees there. If your hive doesn't have brood, then just add her in the middle of a box where there are the most bees in the hive.

How to put the queen cage in between two frames:

There are different ways to hang the queen cage on the frame. You can use a toothpick to hang her cage between two frames (pictured to right). You can also take a piece of wire (e.g. a unfolded paper clip), attach one end to the cage and curve the other end over the top of the frame.

More details... The holes in the plastic cage allow the bees to feed the queen and also protect her so the bees don't surround her, suffocate her, and kill her. The cap and candy method allows for 2-3 days for the bees to adjust to her pheromone and adopt her as their queen when she emerges from the cage. If there is another queen in the hive or possibly an advanced queen cell, they may not adopt her as their queen and kill her instead (preferring the queen they already have).

If you made your hive queenless 24 hours before or know that your hive is queenless, then the bees will likely eagerly adopt the new queen.

Email me if you would like to reserve one of these queens!
​Take care, Jennifer

Jennifer Radtke, Learn from the Bees​
​Mentorships, Education, & Advice for Urban Beekeeping in the Unique SF Bay Area Climate