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This article was first published in American Bee Journal, Volume 163 No. 5, in May 2023; a few minor edits have been made to the version here. Introduction This article is a continuation of part one which appeared in last April 2023’s American Bee Journal and was published last month on the blog; refer to

Queen rearing can sound intimidating — many beekeepers find it easier and safer to shell out $40-60 every time a new queen is needed. But if you live in an area without widespread Apis mellifera scutellata (Africanized) genes, there is a lot of value in creating a self-sustainable bee operation by learning how to rear your own queens. Once the general concepts are understood, it’s not overly complicated and doesn’t even have to involve grafting — in fact, there are some ways to raise local queens that are almost completely passive for the beekeeper. This two-part article covers basic queen-rearing concepts and outlines several different methods of varying difficulty. Give one (or more) a try this year and your colonies can be headed by brand new, locally reared queens.

I recently wrote about the hive autopsy I performed on New Years Eve 2020, when I determined that my colony didn’t make it because they were just too small to generate the heat required to make it through our winter nights; their small size likely caused by a rough year as well as varroa problems. But I didn’t share the rest of the story!