... and with the kindly cooperation of hundreds of thousands of brown Apis mellifera mellifera (and their close hybrid derivatives), alive and well in Fife.
We saw queen raising in starter and finisher colonies, and queen raising using the queen-right method commonly called the Ben Harden method. Ben acknowledges that the method is one from Wilkinson and Brown of the NBU and full details are described there.
Do you never sleep! I was also on the SBA bee breeding course and can say this was the best instructive and hands on course I have ever attended. Terry, Enid, John and all the helpers from Dunfermline should take a bow. I would recommend that this type of course should be run annually or at least bi-annual
I am off to the bees now to do my queen breeding properly!
The bees were supplied by Enid Brown and John Durkacz both who are interested in the conservation of native black bees. John and myself have also been working on morph samples from other beekeepers in Scotland.
I am trying grafting for the first time this year.
I just set up a second queen right cellraising colony last Friday.
I have been having very mixed results.
The first attempt we got 9/20 started but subsequently it has been 2/20 or similar.
I have got about 15 cells on the go, the first due to hatch tomorrow but I am doing an inordinate amount of repeat grafting to get this far.
Apart from the obvious, which is that my grafting technique leaves someting to be desired, what are the top tips from the course to increase success?
Be nice to the larvae, work quickly and return them without delay. Don't use any that touch the sides. Still, warm conditions (maybe in a car). Transfer them with some royal jelly. Don't go for the youngest, around 1 day is fine. No need to prepare the cups, no need to charge them with larvae then discard them before the proper run, as some people do.
Hmm.
The hardest part of that is the mention of a car as my mode of transport is the humble bicycle.
How much royal jelly should you transfer, just a wafer thin smidgen or a reasonable amount?
That's also an interesting comment about those which touch the sides I I kid myself that they have not been damaged.
I also had a go at grafting which is not as hard as people make out. My tips from the weekend. Use a frame of nice light coloured drawn comb. Usually the queen will be on it. Brush off all the bees Look for larvae at all stages. If there is sealed brood in the middle look further out for the young larvae and eggs.
If you have to carry the frame any distance wet a tea towel with hot water from a flask, wring it out and let it start to cool. Wrap the frame in the towel This will preserve the larvae better with humidity and warmth. On the weekend we did not do this as we were grafting next to the hives. You need to be sitting preferably at a table with good light. I used a light head magnifying glass to see the larvae. We cut along a row of larvae with a sharp knife to see and help lift out the larvae. I used the chinese grafting tool which I prefered as you can slide the larvae off. I tried various other tool but found them more difficult. We did not charge the wax cups or the plastic cups we just put the larvae into. The important bit is the larvae have to be 1 day old and the frame of grafts must go into a strong queenless colony that have brood that is too old to make new queen cells. You must also feed at all times.
I intend to try grafting this thursday with me old mentor Ben Bellamy who is 83 yrs old but is still wanting to give it a go. I will keep you informed on how it goes.
On a different note I saw my first virgin queen this year emerge. The first time I have seen this. She was born at 10.33am. I felt like a proud father and if any other people had been there I would have handed out the cigars and drink.
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