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Thread: Queen Rearing pdfs

  1. #1
    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
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    Default Queen Rearing pdfs

    I thought that it might be interesting to collect together links to the various queen rearing pdfs which are available on the net (even if they've been linked to previously in separate threads). A few to start with but I hope that others will add further links.

    University of Arkansas: raising Quality Queen Bees.

    http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct...VrrSPzcqB7iUug

    NSW Department of Primary Industry: Rearing Queen Bees.

    http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct...57155469,d.ZG4

    Cornell University: Queen Reaing by Beekeepers in the Northeast.

    http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct...57155469,d.ZG4

  2. #2

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    Hi Prakel
    This isn't a pdf but is about queen creation
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y64cKn4rLNM

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    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by The Drone Ranger View Post
    Hi Prakel
    This isn't a pdf but is about queen creation
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y64cKn4rLNM
    Sneaky devil DR, after a lifetime of managing to keep bees without ever watching a fat-beeman video you hooked me!

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    Many apologies Prakel
    It's just one rough and ready step backwards from cell punching

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    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
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    Rough's fine by me -as long as we've got the mating nucs/bee reserves to hold the queens for initial assessment. To be honest I'm not sure there's a real benefit in this method over making walk away splits but I do like his cheerful persona and the message that queen rearing need not be some complex palava.

  6. #6

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    Please tell me about a walk away split. Do you split off a queenless nuc to rear it's own queen or do you split the whole hive? I know it's a USA thing but never really got to grips with it.

  7. #7

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    Quote Originally Posted by Beefever View Post
    Please tell me about a walk away split. Do you split off a queenless nuc to rear it's own queen or do you split the whole hive? I know it's a USA thing but never really got to grips with it.
    Hi Beefever
    If you wait till a hive makes queencells then split it you need to be able to find the queen

    The idea of a walk away split is to divide the broodnest between two nucleus sized colonies without finding the queen
    The queenless one will make cells and produce a queen
    The two colonies will take a while to get back up to strength though particularly the queenless one

  8. #8
    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
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    I'm really not sure that it is an American thing although I read this a lot. Over the years I've met quite a few British beekeepers who use the method in some form or another; maybe they've all now been educated out of such practices.... or perhaps they just keep their heads down for fear of condemnation from the ones who are educated. I've used it in the past, generally with good results but as with any queen rearing there's always the chance of it going wrong which can be expensive when you're taking boxes/half boxes of bees from full colonies. On balance it's got to be far better to run dedicated mating nucs for the job and then introduce successfully mated queens to splits.
    Last edited by prakel; 27-11-2013 at 06:01 PM.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by prakel View Post
    I'm really not sure that it is an American thing although I read this a lot. Over the years I've met quite a few British beekeepers who use the method in some form or another; maybe they've all now been educated out of such practices.... or perhaps they just keep their heads down for fear of condemnation from the ones who are educated. I've used it in the past, generally with good results but as with any queen rearing there's always the chance of it going wrong which can be expensive when you're taking boxes/half boxes of bees from full colonies. On balance it's got to be far better to run dedicated mating nucs for the job and then introduce successfully mated queens to splits.
    A couple of very experienced beeks near me say it is "best" to mate queens in nucs if you can. I.e. Make up nuc and place your cell in at the same time.
    So, next year I want to run 3 more colonies. I have the hives, the nucs and the Apideas. Which way to go once I have the sealed cells ready to emerge?

  10. #10

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    Thanks for that info DR and Prakel. I do graft when queen rearing and after a lot of heart ache have become more proficient at it but that Fat Bee Man vid seems so simple that I think I’ll have a go next year just to see what happens. I wonder if that’s his idea?

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