Finding the queen is one of the most exciting parts of learning how to keep bees. When you can find the queen in a colony with two full boxes of bees and brood without disturbing the bees you start to feel like a beekeeper.

Why do we want to find the queen?

The bee colony or family cannot survive very long without a queen. A beekeeper must be able to find and recognize a queen. When you know how to find the queen, you will also know when the queen is not there.

There are many different ways of managing your bees that depend on locating the queen. However you do not have to see the queen to know that she is there. Seeing healthy brood at all stages, but particularly eggs will tell you that the queen was there as recently as 3 days before. When you see eggs, a good brood pattern, and the queen, you know that your beehive is truly queen right!

How do we find the queen?

The skill in finding the queen is in knowing where she should be, and looking for her without disturbing her and the bees. If you are careful you may see the queen quietly walking around on a frame laying eggs. If you disturb the bees, the queen could be anywhere in the hive and moving quickly.

The queen is longer than both the worker, and the drone bees. Her body is long and tapered (pointed), and her wings look small because of her long body. She could be a dark colour, or bright orange. Some beekeepers say that the darker queens are harder to find.

The queen likes the dark, and will slowly move to the dark side of the frame. The queen can usually be found on a frame of open brood (eggs, and young larva), towards the middle of the hive.

1. Make sure your smoker is well lit with dried banana leaves, coconut husks, copra bag, or other clean fuel.  Have your veil, gloves, and hive tool ready.  Bring 2 hive blankets, your record book, pencil, and penknife
   
2. Use as little smoke as possible to calm the bees. A few sprays of thick, cool smoke in the entrance and another under the lid should be enough. Slowly and gently lift off the lid. Lay it upside down on the hive stand
   
3. Cover the top box, or honey box, with a hive blanket. Use your hive tool to pry or lever the top box.  Lift it off.  Set it on top of the upside down lid.  Lay your second hive blanket on top of the brood box.

1. Lift the blanket off of the first two frames of the honey box. Lift the outside or next to outside frame. If the frames are joined by wax to frames beside it, take your hive tool and cut along the top bar of the frame beside the one you are lifting. The wax will come up with the frame and not smash or roll bees. While you are lifting the first frame, look under it and see if the queen is on the next fram
2. If you do not see her on the next frame, look at the frame you are holding.  Hold the frame at eye level over the hive (so if the queen falls off of the frame she will not fall on the ground). Hold the frame away from your face. Do not try to look at every bee. Look for the longer bee, the bee that looks different, but isn’t fat and hairy like the drone.

1. Turn the frame around, looking along the top, and bottom bars. Then hold the frame at eye level, away from your face.  Sometimes if you try and look at the whole frame and don’t focus on one bee, the long body of the queen will be easier to see.
2.  Lay the frame on the hive stand leaning against the box. Lift the next frame.  Look under it to see if the queen is on the next frame. Then look at the one in your hand.
3.  When you see the queen, don’t touch her or she will get frightened. She may run or fall off of the frame.  You can watch her for a while as she walks around the frame. You may see her put her head in a cell to see if it is empty, and then turn around, and put her abdomen in a cell to lay an egg.  Do not keep the queen out of the hive too long.  Be very careful when you put the frame that she is on into the hive.
4.  Look at every frame in the honey box. If you do not see the queen, cover the honey box with the hive blanket. Then, look for the queen in the brood box.

You should not be in a hurry when you are looking for the queen. If you do not find her after looking in the 2 boxes, you may search again, if the bees are still calm, and so are you. If you and the bees are getting tired, then you can put the hive back together. Try again on another day.

Remember, if you see eggs, and/or young larva, then you know the queen is probably somewhere in the hive.