Results from Grafting!!!!

[Chef Isaac]

Hello all! Well I grafted on Saturday and I went to the beeyard today to take a peack and they took 6 out of the 17 that I grafted. I am sooo happy. Didnt think they would take any so this is a surpise.

The queen cells are nice and long. Not stubby.

What other things do you look for when deciding if you want to place a queen cell into a mating nuc?

[xC0000005]

Congratulations, Chef. You must have a steadier hand than I. (Now, are you going to split your packages even further?)

[Chef Isaac]

No. I still have a few good populated hives. I one will be able to do as far as making mating nucs up. I will need to figure it out today.

I am still waiting for the packages. rrrr... I would have liked to hive them all today. I took the day off for it too!!!

[tecumseh]

the chef sezs:
What other things do you look for when deciding if you want to place a queen cell into a mating nuc?

tecumseh replies:
some folks light bulb the cells (just as you might do if you raised chickens) to make certain the queen cell has a viable moving virgin locked inside.

I would love to see your face when your first grafted queen begins to lay. that is a treat which just gets better with time.

[nw bee]

It is still early for you to start queens, How is the no. of droons that you have? If you don't have lot of droons you are not going to have well mated queens. Good luck

[Chef Isaac]

NW: I have plenty of drones. We have had some nice mild weather this month (sorta). I have learned from other beekeepers that you can start grafting when you see drones capped over.

I am nervous about the mating conditions. This week, we are going to have rain rain rain.

If it doesnt work, it has been a learnign experiance for me!

[Michael Bush]

The queen has a couple of weeks to get mated. A few days of rain won't hurt. Two weeks of rain is a problem.

[tecumseh]

the chef sezs:
I have learned from other beekeepers that you can start grafting when you see drones capped over.

tecumseh replies:
the drones require a certain maturation time themselves (if memory serves abc-xyz states 2 weeks). anyway, I certainly like to see drones in the hive before I begin to raise queen cells. typically any kind of regimented early feeding program encourages drone production earlier than relying on a natural flow.

keep us informed as to how it goes....

[Fernhill]

I pulled a frame out of one of my hives on Wednesday to find two supercedure cells. While I was looking at them and wondering what was wrong with the queen they already had, the flap at the bottom of the cell opened and out she came. Talk about good timing. I even got some pictures of her. Probably never see that again in my life. Amazing.

Mike

[Michael Bush]

> Probably never see that again in my life. Amazing.

If you raise enough queens you will. It's not a site I'm hoping for though. On a hot day sometimes they start emerging when I'm trying to get them into mating nucs....

Still, it is pretty neat to see.