BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS
intro queen on top bar? whoops!
TEN:
It is critical that the queen be over the brood chambers if at all possible as any hatching bees will first be acquainted with her scent from the very point of hatching and this is where the greatest density of bees will occur. In lieu of the other queens scent they will bond with the new queen sooner if more are exposed to her presence. Bees will actually lick the queens body and exchange the pheromone contained in the lick with other bees that they meet in the hive. In the absence of the pheromone in the lick to lick exchange that they do, the bees will go into a find or make a queen mode. It is this driving force that will cause them to bond with the presented queen quicker but make no mistake exposure to the largest number of bees is critical.
Convenience is nice but has its place.
bupalos:
Thanks guys, good thoughts. A spacer would obviously work but also would invite extra comb on the bottom bars in the newly created space. Ten, your "overdrawn" frames sounds intriguing. Do you mean that when you space bars out the bees actually draw cells out deeper? Does the wax end up protruding past the profile of the top bars? If so, maybe this would provide a ledge on either side that the queen cage could rest on screen side down?
golfpsycho:
9 frame spacing in supers is a practice that has been used for a long time. Overdrawing the comb helps the caps to extend beyond the frame edges and allows for easier decapping and extracting. There was alot of discussion about which held more honey... extended combs on 9 frames or 10 frames.
I'm trying to get as much comb drawn as I can this year, but will probably use 9 frame spacing in the supers next year, just for the ease in decapping.
Ten, do you use 9 frames in the brood boxes as well?
BigRog:
John had a great post on this pictures and a great explaination.
Maybe someone could find it. I searched but couldn't.
Beth Kirkley:
I found these posts:
http://www.beemaster.com/beebbs/viewtopic.php?t=665&highlight=9+frames
http://www.beemaster.com/beebbs/viewtopic.php?t=487&highlight=9+frames
maybe they'll help
Beth
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