BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS

Nicot Queen Rearing

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Ben Framed:
Thanks to each of you for your response. Blackforest, ed, and Honey Pump.
Most of my black comb is eother, filled with capped brood, pollen, etc. so grafting will not work for me at the present time, as I can not see the white baby larva on the white comb. I havnt even tried. Also I was told that new combos harder to graft from because it is so tender that the grafting tool can easily puncture new white comb. many next season when I have more seasoned comb. Grafting will be looked forward too. Mr Claude, you have given the the very best information on this subject that I have been able to find. I again thank you sir for the detailed information. I am glad that you had the honey rush this morning!! Haa haa  thanks to you all once again,
Phillip Hall

TheHoneyPump:
PS:   Revised the above a bit and adding the following

If you have multiple queens that you want to graft from for diversity. You need to have a dedicated box with her name on it for each one of them. You cannot move the box around between queens. The box will smell like one and when you put the other in she is going to be absolutely livid the entire time she is in there. You get no eggs, a missed cycle, and a really REALLY teeed off queen thoroughly piping you off the next day. LoL, guess how I know that ;). So dedicate one box per queen per season. Put her name on it and put no one else into it.

You can certainly use the box for a different queen next year. After it has aired out all winter and a sufficient scenting period in the next queens hive. You just cannot (should not) use it this year for any other queen.  Well you could, but you may not be satisfied with the results, other than the entertainment.

I suppose an option may be to put the box in the dishwasher. It is a basic plastic which could probably be washed in such a way that removes the scents. I have not tried.

BeeMaster2:
Claude,
Great answers. This will bee a great help and I am going to make this a sticky topic.
I also moved it to queen rearing.
Jim Altmiller

blackforest beekeeper:
I personally find the idea of a queen being confined not so good. maybe the results are. but she will feel confined, are the eggs good? good enough? she doesn?t have enough space to lay. she will produce eggs anyway and the bees will eat them. this is sort of a weird situation for the bees. and...well...just my thoughts and feelings.

as for the queen not being in a production hive: I have heard that a lot of times. But on the other hand: How do you know she is still in her prime if not in a prod. hive any more? she may have gotten worse since last year. of course, you might have just taken her out of prod. a week ago.

also: queens are MADE to lay a lot of eggs and be in a big hive. so this will be quite natural.
I have managed (finally or at least temporarily) to breed myself a strain(?) suited to my location and ways of work and hive. it is a "forest and meadow cross" as we call it. The breeder queens I got from a friend didn`t do well in my location. their offspring is mediocre. anything other beeks around me importet from known breeders didn`t work out and just about every year they try something anew. most of my "blood" is regional. though my friend had some awesome hives, I have seen them. spectacular amounts of honey and bees. but the climate is different. e.g. I still got one of them. It starts too late, the rest of the hives have a large brood-nest, she doesn`t. she starts later, but then she will get into panic-mode and want to swarm. something like that shows the offspring of that lady, too. in different intensity.
the best off-spring were the queens from a mom from my own hives that just did really well. after about 3 years it seems that there is more equality among the hives on a good level. of course, one has to really use enough bees in a breeder, not just say it on youtube.
I have never put a queen out of production just to graft from her. neither has my friend.
brother Adam said that the first time, I  think.
I wonder... maybe I have an accident like coolbees, I`ll make it an experiment.
o well ... just remembered that by some stupid accident I don`t know where my breeder queens from last year ended up in. I mixed up the lids where it was written on.... :tongue:

as for the nicot system:
I cannot find pieces not fitting. but we are closer to France....  :wink:
On the contrary: sometimes I find it kind of hard to loosen the cup-holders or - even worse - to remove the cups. never has anything come loose.

Ben Framed:
TheHoneyPump
"need to have a dedicated box with her name on it for each one of them."


Mr Claude, I am thinking I will name her "Theresa"  :wink:

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