Requeening
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A queen is replaced once she is past her second productive year, if the colony is underperforming, if it is unpleasant to work, or if it is noticeably disease-prone.
A queen is replaced once she is past her second productive year, if the colony is underperforming, if it is unpleasant to work, or if it is noticeably disease-prone. Older queens more often lead to a colony becoming queenless or drone-laying over winter.
The sore point is acceptance. Between one and seven days after removing the old queen, introduction is especially difficult, because the colony has already started raising emergency queen cells. This approach is therefore common: remove the old queen, wait nine days, break out all emergency queen cells, then introduce the young queen in an introduction cage with a firm fondant plug. If a cell is overlooked, the new queen is in danger. With large introduction cages that include a retreat chamber, immediate introduction is also done; which approach fits depends on the cage type.
Safer than the production colony is the nucleus: there, the queen is introduced, and in late summer the nucleus is united over newspaper. It is checked about a week later; eggs or open brood are enough for this, the queen does not have to be found. In the first three weeks after introduction, no varroa treatment is carried out. A colony with laying workers (humped brood) is not given a queen at all.