Queen Rearing for Beginners - Step by Step

Every beekeeper sooner or later faces the question: buy queens or raise your own? Raising your own queens gives you control over the genetics of your colonies, saves money, and makes you independent. And it is easier than many think.

Why Raise Your Own Queens?

Advantages of Own Queen Rearing

• Adaptation: Queens from your own colonies are adapted to your climate and forage
• Selection: You select specifically for gentleness, low swarming tendency, and honey yield
• Independence: No waiting for breeders, no shipping risk
• Cost: A purchased queen costs 25-50 EUR, self-raised ones cost almost nothing
• Colony multiplication: Every new queen creates a new colony

When to Start?

Queen rearing takes place between May and July - during the natural swarming season, when drones are available for mating.

Understanding the Basics

The Life Cycle of a Queen

Phase	Day	What Happens
Egg	1-3	Fertilized egg in queen cell
Larva	4-8	Fed with royal jelly
Capping	9	Cell is sealed
Pupa	9-16	Metamorphosis in the cell
Emergence	16	Young queen emerges
Mating flight	21-24	Multiple mating flights
Egg laying	26-30	First eggs are laid

What You Need

• Breeding colony: Your best, gentlest, most productive colony
• Starter/Finisher: A strong, queenless nurse colony
• Mating nucs: Mini-Plus, Kieler mating nuc or Apidea
• Grafting tools: Chinese grafting needles (approx. 5 EUR)
• Cell bar frame with queen cups

Method 1: Simple Emergency Queen Rearing

The simplest method - ideal for getting started:

1. Select breeding colony: Your gentlest, strongest colony
2. Remove a frame with youngest larvae (under 24 hours old)
3. De-queen the nurse colony: Move queen to a nucleus or mating nuc
4. The bees will raise emergency queen cells from the youngest larvae
5. After 10-11 days: Harvest ripe queen cells and distribute

Disadvantage: You have little control over which larvae the bees select.

Method 2: Grafting (Standard Breeding Method)

The gold standard of queen rearing - precise and effective:

Step 1: Obtain Breeding Material

• Remove a frame with eggs and youngest larvae from the breeding colony
• Larvae should be maximum 24 hours old - ideally under 12 hours (barely visible, swimming in royal jelly)

Step 2: Grafting

1. Lightly moisten queen cups with diluted honey
2. Slide grafting needle under the larva (lying in C-shape)
3. Gently place larva in the cup - do not rotate!
4. Place 10-15 cups per cell bar

Step 3: Starting

• Hang cell bar frame in the queenless nurse colony
• Place between capped brood frames (warmth + bee contact)
• After 24 hours check: Accepted cells have raised edges

Step 4: Care and Maturation

• Leave accepted cells in the nurse colony
• Day 5 after grafting: Queen cells are capped
• Day 10-11 after grafting: Cells are ripe for transfer
• Carefully place cells in protective cages (protection from mutual destruction)

Step 5: Mating

• Hang ripe cells in mating nucs
• Place nucs at a quiet location near a drone congregation area
• After 2-3 weeks check: Laying queen = success!

Making the Right Selection

Selection Criteria

Choose your breeding colony according to these criteria (in this order):

1. Gentleness: Calm behavior during inspections
2. Low swarming tendency: Little inclination to swarm
3. Vitality: Healthy, no disease signs, good Varroa count
4. Honey yield: Above-average harvest
5. Comb behavior: Calm sitting on the comb

Tip: Document the traits of your colonies in Hivekraft. This way you quickly find the best breeding colony and can track development over the years.

Breeding Schedule

Week	Action
Week 1	Select breeding colony, prepare nurse colony
Week 2 (Mon)	Graft, hang cell bar frame
Week 2 (Tue)	Check acceptance
Week 3 (Thu)	Harvest ripe cells, place in mating nucs
Week 5-6	Mating check: Eggs present?
Week 7	Introduce mated queen or form nucleus

Common Mistakes

• Grafting larvae that are too old: Only use larvae under 24 hours (ideally under 12 hours)
• Nurse colony too weak: At least 8-10 occupied frame spaces
• Starting too early in the year: Only start when enough drones are flying (from May)
• No selection: Do not breed from just any colony
• Dropping queen cells: Always transport carefully and vertically

Summary

Queen rearing is one of the most rewarding skills in beekeeping. Start with simple emergency queen rearing and work your way up to grafting. The key points:

1. Select a good breeding colony (gentleness + performance)
2. Use young larvae (maximum 24 hours, ideally under 12 hours)
3. Provide a strong nurse colony
4. Be patient - not every cell will be accepted
5. Document and learn from experience

With each season you will improve, and your colonies will reward you with gentleness and productivity.

Read also: May - Managing Swarm Season Properly Basics: Beekeeping for Beginners - Your Start into Beekeeping