Cupkit System

[fatshark]

I notice that Amazon also list a turnover crate for sheep in their queen rearing equipment at £2384.64 ... this must be for a method I'm not yet familiar with.

[The Drone Ranger]

Similar to stocking an apidea with bees.
The handy sheep cage allows a WBC to be inverted thus avoiding the tiresome task of dismantling the outer lifts and removing the frames

[drumgerry]

Ok so I've been using Jenter cups and roller cages and latterly JzBz queen cups but have been finding things about each system niggling me and I'm thinking it's time to move over to Nicot holders, cups and cages. There are aspects of that design which will solve some of my problems - I like that the roller cages have hinged lids and I think you can leave the base attached to the cell bar whilst removing the cell holder from it. Please correct me if I'm wrong about that!

So.....where is best to buy said Nicot kit? Not wanting cheap knockoff stuff as referred to above and would rather not pay Thornes prices if poss.

[fatshark]

The Nicot stuff is pretty good, I don't think you'll be disappointed. I bought most of mine from ModernBeekeeping and - before its demise - Buzzy Bees shop for the cell cups (I think). I see that ModernBeekeeping are out of stock at the moment. Mann Lake do them as well.

[drumgerry]

Thanks Fatshark! Buzzybeeshop is a sad loss.

Been searching around looking at prices and in the UK Maisemore seem to be the best so far at around £30 (incl shipping) for 20 complete units and 100 cell cups.

Alternatively I could take a punt and buy from Irish Bee Supplies for £20-ish not including shipping for 30 complete units and then I'd need to buy a packet of 100 of the cell cups for subsequent grafts (I sometimes clean and re-use cell cups sometimes don't). Slightly concerned that these might be copycats at that price. Anyone have any info on these?

[The Drone Ranger]

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[busybeephilip]

WEll, I got the cupkit system as advertized on amazon from 'simon the beekeeper'. You know what they say, if it looks to good to be true then it probably is not.

The cupkit components supplied are genuine NICOT however the box is a cheap chinese fake - shame on you Simon ! I compared it to my genuine original box, the moulding is poor and some of the cells are offset, the front and back covers are looser than the original and the white plug holes are smaller, the genuine NICOT has made in france etc in the moulding whereas this fake box has no text on it at all. Wheather it would work as well as the original is to be decided and might explain reports of why some queens just wont lay in boxes if beeks are using fake boxes without knowing. Errrrrr.

[fatshark]

If you know anyone in France you could order from Icko-Apiculture … I can't see the cups advertised, but the Nicot spigot, cage and cup holder are less than €14 for 20. That's less than £11 in our money, or about 500,000 drachma …

Order 1000 and they work out at about 40p each delivered.

PS I should have added … I've ordered from Icko and got great service. Quick delivery.

[drumgerry]

Thanks again guys. I've ended up ordering from Mann Lake and ordering a 1,000 cups and 100 each of the various components not including the cassette which I won't need anyway. Shipping was scary so I topped up the order to get free shipping with 3 National brood boxes. We'll see what they're like.

I'll bear Icko in mind for future orders Fatshark but hopefully won't be needing more Nicot stuff for a while now!

[The Drone Ranger]

WEll, I got the cupkit system as advertized on amazon from 'simon the beekeeper'. You know what they say, if it looks to good to be true then it probably is not.

The cupkit components supplied are genuine NICOT however the box is a cheap chinese fake - shame on you Simon ! I .

Sorry about that Phill good news is if it is Amazon selling you can return for refund.
Being less observant I just accepted the Nicot logo was genuine