New field research suggests that adding a small amount of molybdenum — an essential trace mineral — to colony feed may help honey bee queens emerge heavier, though whether this means better-performing queens remains to be seen.
Researchers from Apinov (France’s Scientific Beekeeping & Training Center) and the CNRS-affiliated Institut Lavoisier de Versailles tested a molybdenum-based supplement across two French apiaries, comparing supplemented colonies against controls fed plain syrup over a full queen-rearing season.
Why Queen Quality Matters: Queen physical condition at the moment she’s reared has long been used by beekeepers and researchers as an early signal of how she’ll perform later, including her capacity to mate successfully, store sperm, and live a long, productive life.
What They Found: Queens from supplemented colonies emerged heavier on average, a difference that held up across sites and replicates. No consistent effects appeared on queen cell length, body measurements, or royal jelly production.
What It Might Mean — and What It Doesn’t (Yet): Queen breeders often use emergence weigh as an early indicator of queen development, linked in other studies to reproductive performance, but the authors are careful to note that weight alone isn’t a complete proxy for queen quality, and a heavier queen at emergence is not the same as a proven better queen in the field.
The Bottom Line: This is a small, single-season field study (three replicates across two apiaries) and the authors are explicit that it should be read as preliminary evidence, not a settled finding. The authors call it preliminary, and the next steps will be conducting larger, multi-year studies tracking queens through mating and colony performance.
Note: The study was partly funded by a company holding a patent on the supplement and planning to commercialise it — disclosed transparently by the authors.
The study is also part of the recently published issue of APIS, where Dr. János Körmendy-Rácz, Chair of the Apimondia Apitherapy Commission, serves as responsible editor-in-chief.
📄 Read the full study: Cochard et al. (2026), APIS, 3(1). DOI: 10.62949/03917161.0581147
