At the centre of every thriving hive is a single bee doing an extraordinary job. The queen doesn’t just lay eggs—she shapes the entire life of the colony. She influences the behaviour of thousands of bees through pheromones, ensures the continuity of the hive by laying up to 2,000 eggs a day, and sets the tone for the colony’s health, temperament, and resilience.
Queen rearing—the practice of raising queen bees—is about more than reproduction. It’s about stewardship. It’s one of the most powerful tools a beekeeper can use to improve their colonies, strengthen genetics, and deepen their relationship with the bees.
When you rear queens, you’re choosing which traits to carry forward. It might be disease resistance, gentle nature, or high productivity. Done thoughtfully, it gives you the chance to shape the future of your apiary—hive by hive, queen by queen. It’s also an essential strategy for growing your colonies or responding quickly when a queen is lost. Having strong, healthy queens on hand gives you flexibility and control.
The process itself is delicate. It begins by selecting young larvae—less than three days old—from a hive with strong, reliable traits. These larvae are just like any others at first, but with the right nutrition—fed royal jelly exclusively—they become queens. It’s a striking reminder that environment shapes outcome.
These larvae are placed into artificial queen cups and moved into a queenless colony, one that’s ready to raise a new matriarch. The bees do the rest. They tend to these cells with care, capping them when the larvae are ready to pupate.
Timing is crucial here. A queen emerges in about 16 days from the time the egg is laid. If you get your timing wrong, you risk queens emerging too early—or fighting each other for dominance. A careful beekeeper watches closely, moves quickly, and always has a plan.
Once a new queen hatches, she embarks on mating flights, often over several days, mating with multiple drones. The more drones she mates with, the greater the genetic diversity she brings back to the hive. This diversity strengthens the hive’s overall health and ability to adapt.
When it’s time to introduce a new queen into a hive, the process needs to be managed carefully. Bees don’t automatically accept a stranger. One common method is to cage the queen inside the hive for a few days, giving the colony time to become accustomed to her scent. Once they’ve accepted her, the cage is removed, and she begins laying.
There are challenges, of course. Weather, timing, hive temperament—all can throw a spanner in the works. But the rewards are worth it. A queen-reared colony is often stronger, more productive, and better suited to local conditions. It also puts the power back into the beekeeper’s hands, reducing reliance on imported queens and creating a more resilient, regionally adapted bee population.
There’s a bigger picture too. Queen rearing contributes to the broader health of pollinators. It gives us the chance to breed for traits that will help bees survive disease, environmental stress, and climate change. And it reinforces something I come back to often: the importance of working with, not against, nature.
The process takes patience, attention, and a willingness to learn. But for those who take it on, it’s one of the most rewarding experiences in beekeeping. It deepens your understanding of the hive, sharpens your skills, and connects you to a lineage of beekeepers who’ve been quietly shaping the future of bees for generations.
Queen rearing isn’t just about the queen. It’s about the strength of the whole colony—and by extension, the strength of our ecosystems. When we raise queens, we’re raising the standards of care, resilience, and responsibility. And it all starts with one tiny larva and a bit of royal jelly.
