BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS

Queen rearing with 6-day-time-schedule

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Michael Bush:
>Maybe we can do a little grafting at BeeFest this year. What do you think?

Great idea.

blackforest beekeeper:
I got a plan I wanted to be let known.
Comments welcome, of course.
Mostly I got led to this plan by THP`s answers and descriptions.
sorry for being a bit rough in outline. Got to get my son to kindergarten.

For my every-6-day-at-the-bees schedule (for spring):
When I want to start raising queens, decided on the fact that drones are seen enough. I take either a straggler hive and kill the queen and fill the box up with brood-frames or I just collect a box full of brood-frames.
I alos take a strong hive with a good queen and put a scnd box on top, filling it partway with brood-frames, too (need some room for next item and for grafting frames).
I also take a couple of frames for graftign from with me.
Next day, I graft, taking into account that the percentage mgiht be bad the first time.
6 days later I move the grafts to the "finisher" a few meters away. Of course, it is not finishing the frames, but is just an incubator wiht bees in it.
From the bees I have brought two more grafting frames in a 6-frame nuc box with a nuc on 4 frames. New grafts are put in the starter.

4 days, just before I go to bed before the night I start to the main yards: Put the close-to-emerging cells into the nuc-box (divided from the queen by a verticular excluder. For transport reasons, of course.

on day 12 I make up nucs, take a couple more combs with larvae and eggs to be grafted from on day 13, asf....

The combs with larvae go into the "finisher", some sealed brood from the finisher strengthens the starter every now an dagain. the nuc might need some removal of brood, too, every now and then.
Surplus bees in the finisher go in to mating nucs for sale of queens. As go the surplus queens, which I let hatch out if the cells are not needed. Put them into mating-nucs on grafting day.

Investment: 2 colonies, some brood frames, 1 nuc.
Saved: Time at the out-yards.
Queens to be had: appr. 500 / season.
Needed: maybe 300.
so I try selling queens. The years before I didn`t feel ready for it, I wanted to make sure first, that my queens are "good".

TheHoneyPump:
How is the season going?   On track?  As planned?  Constantly adjusting on the fly?

TheHoneyPump:
Last batch of the season.

BeeMaster2:
Nice.
Jim Altmiller

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