BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS

Queen castle question;

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TheHoneyPump:
Have an idea that surely must have been thought of and tried before.  Wondering if anyone here has done it; having experience and results to offer.  No intellectual speculation if you please, I/we would like to hear if this has been done and what actually happened:

Imagine a 3 compartment queen castle (QC) built in a typical 10 frame deep box.  3 compartments, 3 frames each.  I suppose you could squeeze in 4 by 2 frame units, but I intend to use 3.  Of course each compartment is completely sealed queen tight from the others and there are 3 separate outside entrances to the box with unique markings/colors.  The bottom of the box is sealed off by plywood.  Each compartment then has 2x 2" holes cut in the bottom through the plywood.  Chunks of plastic queen excluder are cut to size and fastened over the holes on the inside of the box.

Next goto 3 targeted donor hives you want to rear new queens from. Pull one "light" frame of eggs/brood with nurse bees on it, one frame of honey/pollen, one frame half nectar.  In other words, build minimal (weak) 3x 3 frame nucs into the QC.

Now goto a decent normal queen-rite hive.  Not an exceptionally strong one, just a typical good one that is ramping upwards with lots of capped brood due to emerge soon. Let's assume that hive configuration is 2 deeps for a brood chamber, a queen excluder, then one or two deep supers for rising stores.  Take the QC over to that hive.  Place another queen excluder on the top super.  Place the QC on top of that.  Put the cover on top of the QC.

The idea behind this is to raise new queens with minimal resources from the other colonies.  To not weaken donor hives by taking a bunch of bees away. Just one frame of brood with nurse bees on it. The idea of placing the QC on a regular hive is to share the host's bees (nurse, housekeepers, etc) through the excluders and most especially the heat and resources from the regular hive below it.  To raise and mate 3 new queens utilizing minimal equipment and space.

What will happen?  Will the QC do the job and raise 3 mated queens in 3 - 4 weeks?


Why am I asking this?  Here's the deal ... it is simple:  I want more queens from a couple of good performers here.  I do not have a bunch of nuc equipment to use.  I have only a couple of old ratty 10 frame boxes left and wood scraps that can be repurposed into QC's.  From my experience I also think 5 frame nucs are a complete waste of time. They end up with the queen lost, too weak, or bees just often abscond.  Build the nuc stronger you say?  Well, if I am going to put more into a nuc then I might as well cut the BS and just go for a true split.  However, I am wanting new queens, not more hives.  So, I am looking at queen castles and am wondering if this idea is viable.

Thoughts?  Comments?  Experience - results?

BeeMaster2:
I tried it. They all got robbed.
Jim

texanbelchers:
I had some spare material and made a couple boxes with 2 compartments of 3 frames.  It was a pain trying to keep the bees separate, but maybe I worried about it too much.  The biggest issue was moving all the bees in one compartment to another hive; those not on the frames (including the queen) had to be scooped out with little working space without opening the other side.  Maybe it was a poorly designed box, maybe my hands are too big, maybe ...

I decided it wasn't worth it and just use single colony standard boxes with division boards for reduced space.

Robo:
Sounds like a lot of work and if I follow your description correctly,  this QC would be too separated from the main colony brood nest by multiple queen excluders and honey supers.  I think you will have trouble getting it to work and if you do it will be very inconsistent at best.

I would recommend looking into a Morris board.   I have had good success using them and raising many queen cells without affecting the production of the mother colony.  If you can afford to give a donor hive as well, you can turn out a 5 frame nuc every 10 days.

little john:
Yes of course the basic idea will work - but not like that. 

If you want to just raise a few queens then I'd suggest you start with the Morris Board as Robo suggests, and start working from there. Alternatively, use a Cloake Board.  I currently use a hybrid between the two, which uses the best features of both (imo).
LJ

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