Latshaw Apiaries 

Banking queens tends to be an practice that is of greater benefit to the beekeeper than to the queens.  While it does not appear that banking queens has any lasting effects on the queens performance, a certain level of mortality should be expected.  A queenless single or nuc makes an ideal unit for banking queens.  They key to banking queens is to place them in a queenless colony and to provide young brood and bees.  The young bees will help care for the queens and the young brood will provide stability for the colony.  During certain times of the year it may be necessary to provide supplemental feeding as caring for excess queens may be considered a luxury during times of the year without nectar flows.

I like to work the banks on a weekly basis.  This way I can rotate in fresh frames of young brood from other support colonies and remove any queen cells the bees may have started from the week before. 

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Last modified: 02/29/08

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