Queen Rearing Basics

Queen rearing might sound like advanced beekeeping, but the basic concepts are surprisingly accessible. Every time a colony swarms or replaces a failing queen, bees are doing queen rearing naturally. As a beekeeper, you can guide this process to produce queens when and where you want them — and from genetics you choose.

This guide covers the fundamentals and two simple methods to get you started. More advanced techniques (grafting, cell builders, instrumental insemination) can come later once you've mastered the basics.

Why Raise Your Own Queens?

• Cost savings. Queens cost $30-50 each (or more for specialty genetics). Raising your own costs almost nothing.
• Self-sufficiency. You're not dependent on availability. No waiting for spring shipments or scrambling when a queen fails mid-season.
• Local adaptation. Queens raised in your area mate with local drones. Over generations, your bees adapt to your climate and conditions.
• Select for traits. You can raise queens from your best colonies — calmest, most productive, best survivors.
• Understand your bees better. Queen rearing deepens your understanding of bee biology and colony dynamics.

Queen Development Biology

Understanding how queens develop is essential for successful queen rearing.

Queens Start as Regular Eggs

There's no such thing as a "queen egg." Any fertilized egg can become a worker or a queen — the difference is entirely how the larva is fed. Larvae destined to be queens receive royal jelly exclusively and in abundance; worker larvae are switched to bee bread after day 3.

The Critical 3-Day Window

For bees to raise a quality queen, they need larvae that are less than 3 days old (ideally less than 24 hours). Older larvae have already been switched to the worker diet and won't develop into fully functional queens.

This is why timing matters so much in queen rearing — you need young larvae available when you want to raise queens.

Queen Development Timeline

From egg to laying queen is about 4 weeks — but much of that is out of your hands (mating flights depend on weather and drone availability).

When You're Ready to Start

Before attempting queen rearing, you should:

• Have at least 2-3 colonies. You need one strong colony to donate larvae (the "breeder") and ideally others to raise queens or serve as mating nucs.
• Be able to find eggs. If you can't reliably spot eggs, you'll struggle with queen rearing timing.
• Understand the bee lifecycle. Know the development timeline for queens, workers, and drones.
• Have some beekeeping experience. At least one full season under your belt helps.

Best Time of Year

Late spring through early summer is ideal:

• Colonies are strong and building up
• Drones are abundant for mating
• Weather is suitable for mating flights
• Newly mated queens have time to build colonies before winter

Method 1: Walk-Away Split

The simplest possible queen rearing method. You split a colony, leave one half queenless with eggs/young larvae, and let them raise their own queen. Then you literally walk away.

How to Do It

1. Find a strong colony with plenty of bees, brood in all stages, and eggs.
2. Set up a new hive next to the original.
3. Divide the colony roughly in half:
   • Move half the brood frames (including eggs and young larvae) to the new hive
   • Move half the bees (shake or let them move with the frames)
   • Add food frames or feed both halves
4. Don't worry about finding the queen. One half will have her, one won't. The queenless half will raise a new queen from the young larvae.
5. Wait 4 weeks. Check for eggs from the new queen. Don't disturb the queenless half for at least 3 weeks — you risk damaging queen cells.

Pros and Cons

• Pros: Dead simple, no equipment needed, high success rate, produces two colonies from one
• Cons: No control over which larvae get selected for queens, can't select genetics, only produces 1-2 queens per split

Method 2: The Miller Method

A step up from walk-away splits that gives you more queens and better control. You encourage bees to build queen cells on fresh comb that you've prepared with a specific pattern.

The Concept

You give your breeder queen a frame of foundation or empty comb cut into a zigzag pattern. She lays in the new comb. Then you transfer that frame to a queenless colony (the "cell builder"), and bees build queen cells along the cut edges where young larvae are accessible.

How to Do It

1. Prepare a Miller frame: Take an empty frame and attach foundation or starter strips in a zigzag or triangular pattern, leaving gaps at the bottom edges.
2. Place in breeder colony: Put the frame in the brood nest of your best colony. The queen will lay in the new comb.
3. Wait 4-5 days: Let the queen lay and eggs hatch into young larvae.
4. Prepare a cell builder: Make a colony queenless (remove the queen to a nuc). Wait 24 hours for bees to realize they're queenless.
5. Transfer the Miller frame: Move it from the breeder to the cell builder. Bees will start queen cells on the larvae along the cut edges.
6. Wait 10 days: Queen cells will be capped and nearly mature.
7. Cut out queen cells: Carefully cut individual cells (with plenty of surrounding wax) and distribute to queenless nucs or colonies.

Pros and Cons

• Pros: Produces multiple queens (5-15 cells), selects genetics from your best breeder, no grafting required
• Cons: More steps than walk-away split, requires managing multiple colonies, cells can be fragile to handle

Beyond the Basics

Once you're comfortable with these methods, you can explore:

• Grafting: Transferring individual larvae into artificial queen cups for precise control. The standard method for producing many queens.
• Cell builder management: Techniques for maximizing queen cell acceptance and quality.
• Mating nucs: Small colonies specifically for housing virgin queens during mating.
• Queen banking: Storing mated queens for later use.

Books like Queen Rearing Essentials by Lawrence Connor or Increase Essentials cover advanced techniques in detail.