Was SHB, Now more queen and nuc raising

[Jon]

I much prefer single units to any form of double box although I think Michael Palmer's logic was that 2 nucs under the one roof help with heat in very cold conditions.

Using a Snelgrove board will get you a new queen but how many do that.

MBC. I think finding, handling and caging a queen is far more daunting for most beekeepers than mastering the grafting process. That is the big weakness in those systems where the queen has to be found and caged for a day.

[mbc]

Even with one of those crack pipe things John?
I'm still tweeking the idea, trying to refine an "entry level" system to make it accessible for all.

[Wmfd]

MBC. I think finding, handling and caging a queen is far more daunting for most beekeepers than mastering the grafting process. That is the big weakness in those systems where the queen has to be found and caged for a day.

I'd agree with that having seen the Horlicks I made of picking up and marking a queen last year, during what started as a Taranov swarm. I was frankly useless!

I need to practice on some drones.

There isn't the same pressure with the thought of handling comb for grafting.

The challenge I find is time and timing, it requires a bit of forward planning on top of the already busy bee times - so the queens I have reared have been from harvesting spare cells which isn't a good way to get towards less swarmy stock!

David

[brothermoo]

I much prefer single units to any form of double box although I think Michael Palmer's logic was that 2 nucs under the one roof help with heat in very cold conditions

We probably dont get temperatures that always require a double box system, which is handy, but I have further divided the division to create 4x2 frame mating nucs... means I can work with only one frame size throughout my equipment.

Although I do have a few apideas for good measure!

[Jon]

MBC - just finding the queen is a barrier for many.
The crack pipe aka the pluffer pipe for those of us without current bad habits does work well as does any form of tube which you shepherd the queen into.

Moo - I got another 3 cases of apideas delivered yesterday.

[brothermoo]

Lol How many are there in a case? Im definitely going to be using my apideas this year, last year I used only my two frame mating nuc so that I didn't have to start filling apideas. Should have enough bees this year, 4 out of 4 thru winter so far.

[Jon]

18 Apideas per case
I have lost 1 nuc and one which blew over in November which hung on until January before fizzling out.
Looks like most people's bees have had a good winter.

[Calum]

hi
whoever needs to find the queen to raise new queens?
A frame of young larve and a very fine haired paintbrush (or chinese bee larve spoon) is all you need to fill the cell cups.
Locally here it is advised against confining a queen in a Jenter or similar cage as it really stresses the queen, and can lead to queen loss. Transferring larve is much less hassle for everyone involved.