The queen is the center of the colony. Almost every meaningful colony health question — population, brood pattern, temperament, pest resistance — traces back to her. This article covers the practical work of queen management in a Primal Bee hive: finding her, recognizing when something's wrong, requeening when needed, and handling the queen excluder question (most users skip them; the choice is yours).

For first-installation steps and what to expect from a brand-new queen, see Getting started with bees. For supersedure cells, swarm cells, and splits, see Colony expansion and swarm management.

Look for the largest bee with a longer, more tapered abdomen, moving deliberately and surrounded by attendant bees facing toward her. Scan frames with the most eggs and young brood — she's nearly always nearby.

Practical tips:

Tip: You don't need to find the queen at every inspection. Confirming eggs is sufficient — fresh eggs (1–3 days old, standing upright in the bottom of the cell) prove the queen was present and laying recently. Save direct queen-spotting for procedures that require it (splits, requeening, marking).

Signs of a failing, dead, or absent queen:

Eggs are very small and easy to miss. Wait 5–7 days and check again before concluding the queen is gone. She may have briefly paused laying after a disturbance or during a nectar dearth.

If a colony remains queenless for 2+ weeks with no larvae young enough to raise a queen, workers may begin laying unfertilized eggs. Signs:

A laying-worker colony is difficult to correct. The most effective approach: shake all bees off their frames at least 50 metres (165 ft) from the hive, introduce a new mated queen, and rebuild. The flying bees that return are accepted; the laying workers (which can't fly well) get left behind.

Requeening is appropriate when:

Important: Never release a new queen directly into a hive without a cage — she will almost certainly be killed by existing workers.

A commercially mated queen may begin laying within 2–3 days of release. If no eggs are visible after 10 days, she may not have been accepted — inspect carefully for her presence.

Most Primal Bee users skip excluders. The brood chamber's continuous laying space (≈3 Langstroth deeps) means the queen rarely runs out of room and very rarely moves up into the supers. On rare occasions during peak colony strength, she may lay a few eggs in the central super frames — easily managed by checking the middle frames at harvest. If you prefer to use an excluder, one fits the built-in ledge — it's your call.

Note: Primal Bee doesn't sell a hive-specific excluder, but any standard plastic excluder trimmed to size works.

Running an excluder reduces the thermal continuity between the nest and supers slightly. That's why most users skip them. Use one when your specific situation calls for it.

Look for the largest bee with a noticeably longer, more tapered abdomen. She moves more deliberately than workers and is typically surrounded by a circle of attendant bees facing toward her. Check frames with the most eggs and young brood — she'll be close by — and scan calmly rather than rushing, since movement startles bees and causes them to scatter. Some beekeepers mark their queen with a color dot using a queen marking pen to make future inspections easier.

No. Confirming eggs is sufficient — if you see fresh eggs (1–3 days old), the queen was present recently and laying normally. You only need to locate the queen directly when you're about to perform a procedure that requires knowing her exact location, such as making a split or introducing a new queen.

Signs of a failing or absent queen include no eggs visible in cells (check with a light source at an angle), no young larvae (pearly white, C-shaped, in the bottom of open cells), a spotty or irregular brood pattern with many empty cells, emergency queen cells (large peanut-shaped cells on the face of a frame), increased colony agitation or unusual noise during inspection, and declining population over time. Eggs are easy to miss — wait 5–7 days and check again before concluding she's gone.

A queenless colony shows no eggs or young larvae, worker bees that appear restless or "roaring" during inspection, emergency queen cells (if young larvae were present when the queen was lost), and — after several weeks — a declining population. If no young brood was available to raise a new queen, you may eventually see laying workers: scattered, irregular drone brood in worker cells, often with multiple eggs per cell laid at the side of the cell rather than the center bottom.

Requeening is appropriate when the queen is over 2–3 years old and productivity has declined, the colony is consistently aggressive, the brood pattern has become very spotty, or the colony has failed to requeen itself after queen loss. Purchase a mated queen from a reputable supplier, remove or confirm the absence of the old queen, then introduce the new queen in a cage with a candy plug. Place the cage between two frames in the brood area and check after 3–5 days to confirm the bees have released her and she's been accepted.

Use the cage method:

Never release a new queen directly into a hive without a cage — she will almost certainly be killed by the existing workers.

When a colony becomes queenless for an extended period (2+ weeks) with no larvae young enough to raise a queen, workers may begin laying unfertilized eggs — this is called a laying worker situation. Signs: multiple eggs per cell (workers don't lay precisely), eggs on the cell wall rather than the center bottom, mostly drone brood in worker-sized cells (since workers can only lay unfertilized drone eggs), and a very patchy pattern. A laying-worker colony is difficult to correct. The most effective solution is to shake all bees off their frames at least 50 metres (165 ft) from the hive, introduce a new mated queen, and rebuild.

Allow 3–7 days after release for a new queen to orient, mate (if not already mated), and begin laying. A commercially mated queen may begin laying within 2–3 days of release. Check for eggs 5–7 days after introduction. If no eggs are visible after 10 days, she may not have been accepted — inspect carefully for her presence.

Most Primal Bee users skip excluders. The brood chamber's continuous laying space (≈3 Langstroth deep boxes) means the queen rarely runs out of room and very rarely moves up into the supers. On rare occasions during peak colony strength, she may lay a few eggs in the central super frames — easily managed by checking the middle frames at harvest. If you prefer to use an excluder, one fits the built-in ledge — it's your call.

Reasons you might run one: the queen is repeatedly moving into supers (often a young queen exploring), you're producing comb honey that requires brood-free frames, your operation has specific market or certification requirements, or your particular queen line has a genetic tendency to lay in supers.

A standard plastic queen excluder trimmed to fit. Avoid metal excluders — they interfere with thermal regulation and tend to be too thick. The hive has a chamfer (a recessed ledge on the two longer inner sides of the top ring) designed to seat the excluder flush between the nest and supers, so it sits securely without gaps.

It reduces thermal continuity between the nest and supers slightly. That's why most users skip them. Use one when your specific management situation calls for it.

The continuous laying space in the large nest area (equivalent to about 3 Langstroth deep boxes across 8 long frames) means the queen has plenty of room without exploring upward. Combined with the stable internal temperatures throughout the hive — which removes the thermal gradient that can draw queens upward in wooden hives — the design naturally keeps the queen where she's already laying.