Hello all. I?ll try to post some pics tomorrow as I have a cell to harvest. I am merging two methods. The Ben harden method, the cloake board method, and some stuff of my own invention. For those who have never heard of the Ben harden method is involves dummy boards to concentrate bees onto your grafts. I?m using frame feeders. I should also mention that I?m using five frame deep Nucs for this.
As of right now I have three Nucs stacked (as well as a super which I think I put on premature and am to lazy to remove...might do so tomorrow). Each nuc has an entrance hole and an entrance disc. One thing I should have done upon installation is face the bottom nuc to the back and the top entrance to the front. That?s my setup as of now. I turned the bottom nuc so it?s rear facing tonight. I?ve used the bottom nuc as an entrance up until now. So the second from the bottom nuc now has its entrance open. The top box has two frame feeders and two frames. I try to get a mix of plenty of pollen, some nectar, and some open brood to draw up nurse bees. Right now the entrance on that top box is empty. Below this box is a queen excluder and a cloake board. My cloake board is different than most as it doesn?t have an entrance. It has a slot that I put the board in. It has a block I put in when not in use.
So what i plan on doing is opening the top entrance and closing the middle. Then opening rear entrance. Also slide in board. Then later in the day putting in grafts. After 24 hours remove the board. I put my grafts between the top bars. I don?t want to make many at one time. Just a couple as I don?t have the resources to mate a ton at a time. I can handle one or two every couple of weeks. This method would also allow this hive to continue to grow with minimal interruption. I would simply cycle combs up to the top box now and again so the queen can lay them up again.
Thoughts/constructive criticism? One thing I was thinking as I was typing is to leave the top entrance as the main entrance. This would avoid confusion.