Queen-Rearing Specialist
Breeds the queens that decide whether a colony defends the bloom or collapses under it.
Role Summary
The Queen-Rearing Specialist owns the genetics at the heart of HIVE-13's resilience — grafting, mating, and selecting queens for disease resistance, temperament, and foraging vigour. The role runs the breeding program that keeps every colony queenright and supplies the stock that husbandry deploys and rewilding releases. One good queen is a colony that survives the winter and defends the meadow; one bad line is a season lost.
Key Responsibilities
- Run the grafting, cell-building, and controlled-mating program to the breeding plan's selection criteria.
- Select breeder stock for disease resistance, temperament, and foraging performance, recording lineage to the COMB registry.
- Bank, mark, and quality-assess mated queens, certifying each before issue to husbandry or rewilding.
- Maintain mating-yard isolation and drone-source control to protect the breeding line.
- Coordinate with the Venom-Lab Scientist on trait screening and with Biosecurity on stock health.
- Steward the genetic-diversity record and guard against inbreeding across the program.
Required Qualifications
- Queen-rearing and grafting experience across a full season.
- Working knowledge of honeybee genetics and selection.
- Precise instrumented-handling and timing discipline.
- Detailed lineage record-keeping for registry entry.
Preferred Qualifications
- Instrumental-insemination training.
- Breeding-program or stock-improvement experience.
- Familiarity with the COMB lineage registry.
Certifications & Clearances
Curricula are delivered through the Training Academy; currency is tracked on the HR training matrix.
Hazard & Safety
Compensation
Mission-driven S-3 band with breeding-season residency stipend and full medical including venom-immunotherapy coverage.
Career Path
Advances to Apiary Husbandry Lead (S-4) or laterals into the Venom-Lab genetics-screening track.
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