We will explore the role of the queen within the colony during this webinar. Its a common belief that the queen is in charge, however, the opposite is closer to the truth. Her actions are often regulated by the colony’s workers. Understanding their interactions is important as it helps a beekeeper to interpret what they sees during an inspection. Some of the queens actions will also have an impact on colony control. Not only do the workers of a colony have control over the queens behaviour, it also falls to them to decide when the queen is due for replacement. The survival of the colony relies on this.

We will also discuss queen cells and their purpose. Many beekeepers can become hung-up on the terminology and forget the purpose of queen cells. Understanding the purpose is vital to understanding the colonies needs. Within the colony there are many behavioural cycles involving the queen. These are useful for determining the needs of a colony and their position within the yearly cycle.

Queen problems which can often occur will also be a topic of this webinar. We will examine how these come to pass.  You will also learn how these problems can be corrected.