All geared up to raise queens!

General Discussion of Diary Posts and Questions on Beekeeping Matters
Post Reply
User avatar
Vance G
Forum Regular
Posts: 251
Joined: October 26th, 2011, 7:38 pm
Location: Latitude: 47°30′13″N Longitude: 111°17′11″W Great Falls Montana

All geared up to raise queens!

Unread post by Vance G »

3 1/2 days ago I put some polished frames stolen for the purpose duragilt frames in the center of the brood nest so I could launch my attempt at raising queens with the Hopkins method as modified by Mel Disselkoen. So today inspite of a thirty mph wind I went out to pull the perfect aged larvae and cover twenty some separated larvae and kill the rest with bread flour, saw the ears off the frame and lay it horizontally on top of my prepared cell starter.

Both frames were full of finest caragana honey and in the process of being capped. Now this colony is as strong as one gets before swarming and I found cups all over the bottom bars and two of them had eggs. So now I need to run back out with a plan B I will put some undrawn duragilt in. Infact I may put a whole box of it between those lead heavy brood boxes. I will re wrap them so I won't chill any brood. Wish I was brave enough and well endowed enough in the eye department to graft. I amy try it tomorrow. I will never learn any younger and I have previously purchased the paraphernalia. I just have to go build some stuff.
User avatar
Charlie
Forum Regular
Posts: 160
Joined: February 26th, 2014, 3:49 pm
Location: Calgary Alberta.

Re: All geared up to raise queens!

Unread post by Charlie »

well endowed enough in the eye department to graft
After reading http://scientificbeekeeping.com/queens-for-pennies/ I decided to purchase
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/10X-Headband-Hea ... OC:CA:3160

Because I am blind at close distances or very fine detail. I actually received this today and in the 30 seconds I played with the device it seems adequate to the task for the couple of times a year that I would use it. My only concern with it is the focal point seems a little short to me, 6 to 7 inches from the lens. This is obviously the cheapest set that I could find and I would not want to wear it day in and day out but for a couple times a year it seems fine. good luck with the Queen cells
User avatar
Vance G
Forum Regular
Posts: 251
Joined: October 26th, 2011, 7:38 pm
Location: Latitude: 47°30′13″N Longitude: 111°17′11″W Great Falls Montana

Re: All geared up to raise queens!

Unread post by Vance G »

Thanks for the reference. I bought an optivisor with a light to do the grafting I just "Ain't got the Noeve" said the cowardly lion. I built equipment today and will make a decision in the morning and have til right after noon for the temperature to get nice.
User avatar
karen
Forum Regular
Posts: 275
Joined: March 19th, 2012, 5:57 am
Location: Maine
Contact:

Re: All geared up to raise queens!

Unread post by karen »

The other thing you can do is get cheap drug store magnifying glasses and wear them over your corrective glasses. I have people do this when I teach and it works great. You just need to know what magnification you will need, I use 2.50 for grafting. I find the headband sets uncomfortable.
User avatar
Countryboy
Forum Regular
Posts: 605
Joined: November 8th, 2010, 9:37 pm
Location: Central Ohio
Contact:

Re: All geared up to raise queens!

Unread post by Countryboy »

For smaller beekeepers, I don't know why more don't use the Miller Method. Put in a sheet of foundation, and after they start drawing it and the queen lays in it, you take a knife and cut a zigzag tooth pattern on the bottom of the foundation and put it in a queenless hive. The bees will draw cells on it.


http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/millermethod.html
B. Farmer Honey
Central Ohio
User avatar
Countryboy
Forum Regular
Posts: 605
Joined: November 8th, 2010, 9:37 pm
Location: Central Ohio
Contact:

Re: All geared up to raise queens!

Unread post by Countryboy »

While I disagree with much of Don's advice, this video was actually very good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y64cKn4rLNM

In a way, it's similar to the Hopkin's Method, but you are hanging strips of comb instead of the whole comb. Pinching parts of the comb strip simply prevents the bees from making too many cells close together, so that you are able to separate cells to use them.

I think it would be easier for most people to attach the comb strips to the bar with some kite string or rubber bands.
B. Farmer Honey
Central Ohio
User avatar
Vance G
Forum Regular
Posts: 251
Joined: October 26th, 2011, 7:38 pm
Location: Latitude: 47°30′13″N Longitude: 111°17′11″W Great Falls Montana

Re: All geared up to raise queens!

Unread post by Vance G »

I have seen that video but my problem is I have mostly plastic frames and foundation and had placed a polished frame in hopes of getting it full of appropriate sized larvae on the fourth day. It was instead full of honey and starting to be capped. I had filled a box of frames with duragilt to get more non plastic drawn and when I saw my prize breeder candidate starting to fill cups with eggs, I put all the capped brood in one box with the queen and the box of foundation in the middle and the open brood on top. Now this hive is about as full of bees as one can get without swarming this time of year. In four days I will hopefully find what I want on the foundation and hopefully no more cups will have been deployed. I should have found the queen and separated her from the hive in that box of foundation with one frame of brood possibly. Ticks me off that I was too senile to think of it at the time when I had her in possession on a brood comb.
User avatar
Vance G
Forum Regular
Posts: 251
Joined: October 26th, 2011, 7:38 pm
Location: Latitude: 47°30′13″N Longitude: 111°17′11″W Great Falls Montana

Re: All geared up to raise queens!

Unread post by Vance G »

So I went back out today as once again I was hoping to find new larvae on wax combs that I could raise queens ala Hopkins. The bees were using the bait drawn frames as ladders between the two brood boxes and the medium box of feed/honey that was on a deadout that I put on the bottom board to encourage the bees to haul it up and build foundation out. A smattering of eggs in three boxes and a few swarm cells in both separated brood boxes. THis is about as populous as a colony gets so I decided that I would shook swarm them and cut my losses if nothing else. I still want to reproduce this queen. I finally found her and moved her and three frames of bees and brood to another spot in the yard. It is supposed to be cold here for several days and I am sure they would have swarmed with no intervention and still might I suppose. I put all the cells in one location and will check in four days to see how many ended up being finished and maybe raise the spares. I guess I am just not cut out to raise queens.
User avatar
karen
Forum Regular
Posts: 275
Joined: March 19th, 2012, 5:57 am
Location: Maine
Contact:

Re: All geared up to raise queens!

Unread post by karen »

I have always found the secret to grafting is your cell builders. Without a good cell builder your grafts count for nothing, also do not put in more grafts than the cell builder can handle. The age of the larva your grafting is very important too. You can tell if you hit the age right by when the cells are capped. It should be no sooner than 8 days, any cells capped on day 7 should be culled.

There are some very good excel sheets to aid in the time line. I have attached one for you to play with.
grafts.6.2.14.xlsx
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Post Reply