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Better Queens by Jay Smith

7K views 37 replies 21 participants last post by  Michael Bush 
#1 ·
#7 ·
Thank you Michael!

I've been trying to locate a copy of that book for a couple of weeks now without any success. Thanks so much for sharing it. This is like Christmas in November! A couple of days ago I managed to find a copy of Queen Rearing Simplified and am anxiously awaiting it's arrival.

Thanks again Michael.

Tim
 
#18 ·
>I havent read his method yet....havent gottan that far but when Mr. Smith said that grafting does not produce quality queens, I think about the quality of queens from Ol Sol, Purvis brothers, Honey run Apiaries, and Kona.

Jay Smith Literally "wrote the book" on grafting. He probably grafted more queens than anyone in history and probably advised more people on grafting than anyone. But he was always looking for "Better Queens". His "Queen Rearing Simplified" is one of the more quoted books on the grafting method. Someday, maybe I'll get time to type that one in...
 
#20 ·
Michael types it in and everyone prints it back out. That just doesn't seem right. So, in an effort to save a tree or two, I converted the text to Palm Reader format for anyone who has a Palm device and wants to carry the book around.

You can grab it here.

www.hillsidegreenhouse.com/bees/

I didn't do any formatting, but it displays pretty well as is.

Even though the screen on a Palm is small, I use the Palm Reader a lot. I can carry around a dozen books and not hurt my back.
 
#21 ·
I read through this book and surprisingly enough, didn't find that much to get excited about. The basis of his method is non-grafting, using large quantities of bees to start and finish the cells, and feeding of honey rather than sugar syrup.

What I would add today is use of collected pollen to enhance the nutritional status of the starters and finishers.

It is a very good book to read but there are other queen breeding books that should be considered.

The small scale queen breeder will have difficulty adapting some of the methods because they are set up for raising large numbers of queens.

Fusion
 
#23 ·
Yes,I think George said it best,we get further and further in your debt.

I am trying to understand the wood frames...?

Also,was Mr. Smith using hives with frames that ran the "warm" way? That is the only way I can see to create a front and rear compartment?

Mr.Smith's enthusiasm IS contagious,isn't it?

Thanks again Mr. Bee
 
#24 ·
>I read through this book and surprisingly enough, didn't find that much to get excited about. The basis of his method is non-grafting, using large quantities of bees to start and finish the cells, and feeding of honey rather than sugar syrup.

His goal is the "best possible queens". His previous book, "Queen Rearing Simplified", which I hope someday to put online as well, was for many years "the" book on grafting. If you want to make a lot of good queens, it's a good book

>It is a very good book to read but there are other queen breeding books that should be considered.

Most of which are variations on his methods in "Queen Rearing Simplified".

>The small scale queen breeder will have difficulty adapting some of the methods because they are set up for raising large numbers of queens.

True, he doesn't really talk about the little breeder until the end, but you can still do graftless queen rearing with a scaled down version of his system.

>Looks like, and I have only gottan through about half the book, that he is suggesting using the "punching" method of queen rearing were you cut up some cells and place them on a frame with no grafting.

Sort of. But he's cutting STRIPS out not, puching one cell.

>I am trying to understand the wood frames...?

He's trying to limit where the queen has to lay so she will lay in the new comb he gives her every day, and not find some other nice place to lay, while at the same time giving her and the bees some room.

>Also,was Mr. Smith using hives with frames that ran the "warm" way? That is the only way I can see to create a front and rear compartment?

He was fond of Dadant hives. I don't have the pictures handy right now, as I sent them with a friend to scan them in.

>Mr.Smith's enthusiasm IS contagious,isn't it?

I think so.

>Thanks again Mr. Bee

You're welcome.
 
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