I used Michael's recipe that has been posted before, so I'll try not to repeat too much.
1) it's not necessary for the Jenter to be drawn out, but the bees need a couple of days to polish and give it the right scent.
2) I put mine in the middle of the brood nest and it worked out well.
3) With Michael's recipe, you will have queen cells drawn other than where you want them. I may try the Cloak method next time to limit this. That said, it appears I'm going to get nearly 100% yield on the cells I transferred.
4) When you get to day 6 and check your queen cells, do a thorough check. You will have queen cells on other frames. Shaking bees from frames in a queenless cell starter makes them cranky, but it's necessary. They will hide queen cells everywhere.
5) I found almost no queen cells started on frames with plastic foundation. Maybe it's because they are more uniform and therefore provide less attractive places for queen cells?
http://www.myoldtools.com/Bees/queenframe.jpg
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks