Queen cages for forcing a brood break

[Lesgold]

Hi Folks,

I am after a bit of advice in relation to queen cages to force brood breaks in my hives. As I live in an area where the queen continues to lay during the winter, forcing a brood break will be an advantage when varroa hits in order to help the control of this pest. I would be interested to hear and see the types of cages that you guys use or have access to. Any reports, opinions or advice would be appreciated. I did try a push in cage last season but was not impressed with it. The queens pheromones were not spread sufficiently throughout the hive and queen cells were produced. After about a week the queen also escaped from this cage and this concerned me. I did see an impressive Italian design for a queen catcher and a cage that is cut into a brood frame but this setup is expensive and not readily available in Australia.

[Occam]

I'm interested to see how this goes for you Les. Have you considered making one with hardware cloth? Or would a standard queen cage like they come in when one has one shipped work?

[Lesgold]

Hi Occam

I was thinking about designing and making one once I get a bit of advice. I?ll see if I can put up an image of an Italian design that I like. It has holes that are large enough for nurse bees to get through but the queen is contained. This would enable the bees to tend the queen and also spread her pheromones throughout the hive. Most of the cage designs that I have seen tend to have holes that are too small for a bee to get through. The other aspect of this design is that it actually fits within a brood frame. (Some of the comb is cut out to recess the cage into). This would also be preferable in my opinion. Once the cage is removed, the bees would build comb to repair the gap.

[Lesgold]

This is what I was considering. The queen would be accessible from both sides of the frame. What do you guys think?

[Ben Framed]

Les you might find the following topic interesting. We had a three page discussion on brood break a few years ago, with some points made by Van From Arkansas, TheHoneyPump and other heavy hitters.


https://beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=53778.msg486167#msg486167

[Occam]

Sacrificing a queen excluder to make several queen cages with wouldn't be a bad investment, I imagine an excluder could be used for several cages therefore several hives. Could even be permanently attached to the frame with a hole drilled through the top for putting her in/letting her out.

[beesnweeds]

I use a deep frame isolation cage.

https://www.betterbee.com/queen-rearing-supplies/FIC1-Deep-Frame-Isolation-Cage.asp

[Occam]

So you put her in the frame cage and keep her there until there isn't any brood elsewhere in the hive, then release her and remove the frame with brood that was in the cage to create the brood break? Am I understanding that correctly?

[The15thMember]

Yes, Occam, that's correct.  And if you leave that frame until it's capped and then remove it, you'll trap a lot of the varroa in that frame, since there is no other brood in the hive.  I've done this several times, although I've had some problems with my setup.  A few years ago when I first tried this, they didn't make frame isolation cages for mediums (I use all 8-frame mediums), so I took a plastic queen excluder, cut it into pieces, and used them to isolate 2 frames up against the wall of a brood box.  So I had a 2 frame wide QX piece on the top of the brood box, an identical piece on the bottom of the brood box, and then a piece that I would slide in vertically between frames 6 and 7, surrounding frames 7 and 8 in QX material.  The problem was that I had queens escape this makeshift isolation frequently, since my vertical piece didn't fit the box perfectly.  Also, some of my bees display hygienic traits, where they pull brood that is very infested with varroa, and with those colonies, I could never get them to fully cap the frames, because they'd pull the bad brood and the queen would re-lay, so the brood wasn't all the same age.  I haven't done a "trapping treatment" (that's what I call it) in the past year or so because of these problems.  But I'm thinking about getting an isolation cage at some point and then trying it again.     

[Lesgold]

I started experimenting yesterday by cutting up a plastic queen excluder as mentioned by Occam. I was able to get one made up but had a few issues with the construction technique and design. I will make a few subtle changes and then post it in the ?Today I Made? tread if I get the design organised. I want to keep the construction as simple as possible. I saw the deep frame isolation frame when I did a bit of research. It also has some merit and would be simple to use. It would mean no handling of the queen and would be a quick solution to isolating her. Unfortunately they are not readily available in Australia and the cost is pretty high. Things may change as varroa ramps up and suppliers get into the swing of selling all sorts of gear related to the control of the pest. The main design constraints that I have for the queen cage are:

1) It must be able to be positioned on a brood frame in the middle of the brood box
2) Nurse bees must have access to the queen from both sides of the frame
3) The queen must be able to be placed or removed from the frame with minimal handling
4) I would like to make the whole brood box broodless to make varroa treatment more effective
5) Catching the queen, putting her into a cage and positioning it on a frame should be a simple task that takes very little effort.

That?s my thinking anyway. Not sure if I?m on the right path but I?m sure that you guys will put me straight if I?m heading off course.

Phillip, I will have a look at that thread a little later. Thanks for that. From the training course that I attended, it looks as though brood breaks are going to be another important control measure for tackling varroa.