North Carolina State Beekeepers Association

Born And Bred Program

Born and Bred Queen Rearing

The NCSBA is proud to present Born & Bred in cooperation with the NCSU Apiculture Program and the NCDA&CS Apiary Inspection Service.

The NCSBA is offering a program of advanced beekeeper education in the field of queen rearing and colony management. The Born and Bred queen rearing workshops will be conducted with a curriculum of such substance that participants can effectively learn how to raise queens with the information presented and a degree of diligence on their part. Beekeepers of all levels will be able to gain an understanding of queen production that is controlled by the beekeeper and how environmental factors affect the behavior of the honey bee during queen production.

In practice, it is not necessary for every beekeeper to be able and proficient in all the steps of controlled queen rearing in order to be successful, but it is essential that the successful beekeeper understand the processes of queen rearing that occurs in nature. An understanding of how the queen rearing beekeeper manipulates the honey bee colonies in order to produce queens and manage mating colonies would enable the hobbyist beekeeper to better understand the naturally occurring queen processes, evaluate the queen status of honey bee colonies and make increases in the bee yard. And would help support a sustainable, in-state supply of honeybee queens, packages, and nucs.

The daylong course has previously been offered in Pittsboro, NC in May. Enrollment is limited and you must be an active member of the NCSBA in order to participate.

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Topics to be covered

• The innate ability of the honey bee to survive and reproduce and the conditions necessary for queen production
• The effects that environmental factors have with regards to honey bee behavior and queen production
• The specialized equipment and devices of queen rearing – what to use, how to build, and where to purchase items such as grafting room equipment, cell cups, incubators, mating nuc boxes, feeders.
• The timing and mechanics of cell production in nature and by the beekeeper.
• How to establish, evaluate, and manage the mating colonies.
• How to determine the queen status of a hive without finding the queen.
• How to catch, mark, cage, and transfer queens.
• Troubleshooting the queen rearing process.

Questions? Email bornandbred@ncbeekeepers.org

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