I reckon you have 3 days from emergence when it is safe to move Apideas as orientation flights start about day 4. I have often moved them 2 or 3 days after emergence but not any later than that.
Had 7 more emerge in the incubator since yesterday.
Some nice looking queens
marked-virgin-queen-small-image.jpg
Last edited by Jon; 27-05-2015 at 08:46 PM.
set up 4 single frame nucs last nite using queens from the incubator, will be putting them out on stands this evening. Having the comb already partially drawn out gives the bees in these units a head start
Around 20 degrees for 21st and 22nd of May so better than expected. Some queens that emerged around 10/11th are mated;Originally Posted by Adam
not sure about all of them yet.
I fumigate the apidea frames with acetic acid fumes and reuse them drawn. In each apidea I use one fully drawn, one half drawn and one not drawn at all as you have to leave a gap to fill them with bees and that does not work well with 3 fully drawn combs.
This year I have some frames of stores from last year so the mini-nucs have a full frame of stores in each which is a good way to get them started rather than use the feeder. I do as you do Jon, the comb left over from last year of some full frames is removed to give space. For sterilisation, the mini-nucs go into a bucket of bleach for a few days in turn over winter with a house-brick in top to keep them submerged. The bleach should also kill any yeasts in the polystyrene which might make the syrup ferment.
Well I set up three more mating nucs yesterday. No grafted queens yet so I took some stonking queen cells from a big colony to get started and get the mating nucs up and running.
Can someone remind me of the timings for putting in queens / letting bees out etc etc. I basically filled them with bees, left them for 5 hours in the dark, added the ripe queen cell and then this morning opened up the entrance. I have a bad feeling I should left the entrance closed for a few days ?
Its been a whole 9 months since my last attempts so forgetting the basics !!
Open the mating nuc after the queen has emerged. I find a lot of bees drift away until they have a queen in with them. The queen cell itself is not a big draw.
If I add a virgin and bees at the same time, ie wet bees tipped in on top of the VQ,I leave close for 24 hours and then set it out at a mating apiary.
30 queen cell taken up this morning.
Trying out a (for me new method) .... mmm, dont know what it would be called in english. oops.
On a good flying morning (wednesday) moved the whole hive 10m away, just leaving the hives super with those bees on that spot. (whats that called again?).
After two hours removed two frames from the super, and replaced them with two frames filled with grafts.
The bees leapt on them.... Much less hassle than prepairing a starter colony....
can anyone recommend a good incubator? We are using a chicken egg brooder with the base filled with water.... Works fine, but its getting on a bit....
Sounds like it's utilizing shades of Steve Taber's method and that of Pasaga Ramic.
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