Virgin Queen has Emerged!

Master Beekeeper Landi Simone has a honey bee queen rearing yard in Pine Brook, NJ, where the Essex County Beekeepers Society (ECBS) met on September10, 2005 to learn about raising queens. ECBS President Grant Stiles is shown here holding a frame from a mating nucleus. Just left of center in the frame, there is a cell protector, which safeguards the queen before she emerges from her cell. ECBS member Dave Standish watches while Stiles determines if the queen has mated by looking for new eggs. If she has mated successfully, she will be marked, placed in a queen cage and introduced to an established hive that needs a new queen or be used to head up a new hive.

(Photo courtesy of Landi Simone)