[brooksbeefarm]

Do queens lay year round in Florida and places where it never freezes and if so how long will the queen last before they run out (have to be replaced). Back in the 60's it wasn't uncommon for a queen to go 5 years before they were superseded or replaced. Jack

 

[PerryBee]

This seems like a straight forward question, if it's warm, no clustering, forage, etc. But wouldn't the length of daylight play a bigger role in queens shutting down? I assume the days get shorter in Florida like they do everywhere else, but then with the pull those guys in Florida seem to have, nothing would surprise me! :lol:
I have also heard of queens living as long as 5 years but one would have to wonder under what conditions? Nowadays if there was no break in the brood cycle and mites being what they are, 5 years would seem to be a long shot.

 

[tecumseh]

as you approach the bottom tip of Florida you are approaching the tropics of cancer... so from that point south there may be a much smaller difference in length of day. also flow and most especially pollen coming in the front door plays a significant role in the queen laying and some breed of bees are extremely sensitive to flow when it come to the queen continuing to lay. I recall Dr Larry Conner talking of one specific line of bees that he produced (way back when) in Florida for Dadant that would cease laying a day or so after a nectar flow had stopped. I think???? this was one of the Cale line of bees. so even something as simple as the queen laying or not has several factor involved.

I can not now even recall working bees at this time of year in Florida.. just too long ago but I don't really think we messed with them much at this time of year. here I can have queens that lay significantly running up to the shortest day of the year but I don't really like them to do so. a hive that brood up excessively during this time of year is a prime target for early spring time nuc production.