View Full Version : Queen Rearing Advice
MWillard
11-03-2009, 08:51 AM
This past year was my first year keeping bees. I currently have two production hives and two 8 frame nucs going into winter.
I would like to expand my apiary next year. I am interested in producing my own queens. Does anyone have a recommondenation on a book or web resource I should read?
Thanks for your help.
Michael
tecumseh
11-03-2009, 07:56 PM
Harry H. Laidlaw, Jr. Contemporary Queen Rearing (Dadant Publication) is kind of the basic book in regards to the subject.
wfarler
11-08-2009, 08:20 AM
Dr. Larry Conner travels around the country speaking at bee clubs and generally teaches a queen rearing class at each club. I found two days of hands on experience and sharing wisdom to be invaluable. here were even 2 commercial beeks running 400 hives taking he class because they said there results were poor and wanted to learn what they were doing wrong. We went over how to evaluate queens to find how to decide what the donor hive should look like, a good bit of time and background on genetics, hands on grafting.
Well worth the small fee. You can read and practice but nothing like having a mentor to show you how to do it.
Michael Palmer
11-08-2009, 03:43 PM
You're close enough...come for lessons next season.
Mike
Jack Grimshaw
11-09-2009, 07:19 PM
Hey Mike Is that an open invitation?
Jack
Michael Palmer
11-09-2009, 08:17 PM
I always need help
MWillard
11-10-2009, 07:47 AM
Hi Mike,
I would love to take you up on your offer. If you are going to be at the VBA winter meeting I'll try to touch base with you there.
Thanks,
Michael
sweetacres
11-10-2009, 08:27 AM
If you can swing the trip, I would recommend the University of Minnesota's queen rearing class. It's 3 days and you get hands on experience. Not to mention your instructors are Marla Spivak and Gary Reuter, so the education goes way beyond queen rearing.
One of the eye opening experiences I had was working with the Minnesota Hygienics. They were very gentle. One of the students demonstrated her work on mites. She took sugar rolls from 5 of their hives, and only found one mite in one hive.
Jack Grimshaw
11-10-2009, 08:05 PM
Camping in VT is a nice break.I haven't been north of Killington since the Dead show at the old airport.
Michael Palmer
11-11-2009, 06:12 AM
Camping in VT is a nice break.I haven't been north of Killington since the Dead show at the old airport.
So it was you that held us up in traffic! Twice!! We quit early that day...working bees in NY. Just got over the Alburg bridge when the traffic jam started. Took 3 hours to make it to Swanton where we could turn off the main road. 3 hours for a 5 mile drive. Cute.
Maine_Beekeeper
11-11-2009, 09:25 PM
Pot calling the kettle a hippie if you ask me...
:)
Michael Palmer
11-12-2009, 06:14 AM
Pot calling the kettle a hippie if you ask me...
:)
What was that about Pot?
tecumseh
11-12-2009, 07:03 AM
and suddenly it occurred to me what a long stange trip it's been...
Jack Grimshaw
11-12-2009, 06:21 PM
"So it was you that held us up in traffic!"
Are you kidding? I think that was me behind you. We camped on Grande Isle,left 2 hrs early and still missed Dylan.
The campground was on an"s" curve and all the truckers used 2 to avoid 89.
Heard Jakes all night. Didn't sleep well....
Grant
11-12-2009, 08:30 PM
I've been raising a few queens using the Nicot unit sold by Mann Lake and Betterbee. I've also been at it a few years, working out a number of kinks.
One of my local buddies got that same unit and was frustrated, so I sat down and wrote out a step-by-step process that works for me.
If you'd like a free copy, I'd love to send it to you as a Word document attached to an e-mail addressed to twentyfivehives@yahoo.com
Put "Nicot" in the subject line and I'll reply back.
Grant
Jackson, MO