Queen rearing is a great way to increase your hives and can be combined with Varroa control. Raising queens introduces a brood break into the cycle of a hive. During this brood break a mite treatment can be used to kill almost all of the mites. I like to use Oxalic acid as it kills on contact and is natural and inexpensive. You do not have to be a sideliner beekeeper to raise queens. A few hives will suffice. You can raise up to 100 queens off of 1 hive. Raising queens is one

Finding a queen can be very difficult, especially in a full hive. It's like playing Where's Waldo in real time! When I first became a beekeeper, I did not find the queen until my second year! Now, that is not a problem :) but even with years of experience she can sometimes still escape my eye! There are only a few cases in which you actually need to find the queen or locate the queen. > You are requeening > Splitting > Combining 2 hives There is no secret formula to find her,

Splitting hives is one of the easiest, cheapest ways to grow your hive count. Step-by-step instructions for making a nuc split, plus tips on timing and feeding.