Breeder hive

[flathead]

We want to raise a few queens this year and are working on making a breeder hive for confinement of the queen.

Seems like which ever queen rearing method you choose, keeping her where you want her is going to make all easier. Even when using one of the kits, she would be easier to find.

Reading Jay Smith's "Better Queens"(thanks MB), we have fashioned a three frame compartment into a ten frame deep. Without the benefit of pics of the inside of the breeder hive in the book, this is what we envisioned:

http://zacharyfarmsllc.com/breeder%20hive.htm

Now working on the partial frames(wood filled) as he describes.

Does this look like what Mr. Smith was describing?

Any other suggestions?

[wayacoyote]

Flathead,
That's closed to what I've figured. Will you use a peice of QE across the top, too?

Where did you get the metal QE? I have some plastic, but I like how you bent yours to the body.

Waya

[sierrabees]

I'd like to know a source for the metal excluder too. I've been using plastic for my projects but it doesn't bend too well, or at all.

[flathead]

<Where did you get the metal QE?>

Walter Kelly has the zinc excluders.

<Will you use a peice of QE across the top>

I left 1/2" of the partition above and will try two pieces of plywood, one for each side of the partition.

[Michael Bush]

>Walter Kelly has the zinc excluders.

Only in groups of 100 though right?

[flathead]

<Only in groups of 100 though right?>

That's what the catalog says.

[sierrabees]

<Only in groups of 100 though right?>

This makes plastic excluders and glue sound just fine.

[JohnK and Sheri]

Dadants carries metal excluders in groups of 1.

We use a similar cage for our breeder queens but with only space for one frame. This makes it easy to find the queen and to rotate frames out and know the age of the larvae.
Sheri

[Michael Bush]

Jay Smith said he didn't have a lot of luck with confining the queen because the bees would reject her. You have to keep in mind he's grafting every day so she's confined all the time. I make a batch once a week and have not had a problem since the queen is only confined one day out of seven. When using the Jenter, it has the excluder built into the box. When grafting or doing the Hopkins method I use a push in cage made of #5 hardware cloth:
http://www.bushfarms.com/images/QueenConfinement5.jpg

#5 will let the workers in and keep the queen out.

[flathead]

<Jay Smith said he didn't have a lot of luck with confining the queen because the bees would reject her.>

Where does Mr. Smith say this? Is it before or after he explains how to confine her in Better Queens?


<This makes plastic excluders and glue sound just fine.>

I use the zinc metal as pictured and I didn't buy 100 hundred of them from Kelly. Call and ask.

[JohnK and Sheri]

Michael, I haven't been able to get your site to come up for a few days. I get a "connection reset while loading" message. Is it just me?
So far, we haven't had any trouble with rejection by keeping the queens confined continuously for maybe 3 weeks, grafting on average every other day or so. She gets a fresh frame most days. When we rotate the frames out we leave them next to her confinement frame until old enough to graft, so there is brood up there close to her. One thing we worry about more is swarming, as we keep them fairly crowded, adding bees every few days as needed. We are grafting in WI during honey flow which just complicates things spacewise. We don't have that problem in Texas with early queens. I understand it is important to check for supercedure cells.
So far we have only grafted from our own stock so if they would have swarmed it wouldn't have been the end of the world, but if we buy an expensive breeder I will be a lot more careful. That would be an expensive swarm or supercedure.
Sheri

[Michael Bush]

>>Jay Smith said he didn't have a lot of luck with confining the queen because the bees would reject her.
>Where does Mr. Smith say this? Is it before or after he explains how to confine her in Better Queens?

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesbetterq...Breeder%20Hive

"the queen seemed not to like being caged in that way and often the queen would be lost, probably from worry or possibly the bees killed her for reasons they alone know." --Jay Smith, Better Queens

>Michael, I haven't been able to get your site to come up for a few days. I get a "connection reset while loading" message. Is it just me?

As far as I know it's just you. I have not heard that from anyone else and it works fine for me. What url are you going to exactly?

[JohnK and Sheri]

Hi Michael
I am still having intermittant problems. I thought it was working, was reading Jay's method but then the pics won't come up, go figure and am getting the same message. May be some configuration problem with my puter or something.... You have so much great info on your site maybe I will have to get in line on the superhiway to access it.
[img]smile.gif[/img]
Sheri

[flathead]

MB quotes Better Queens...
<"the queen seemed not to like being caged in that way and often the queen would be lost, probably from worry or possibly the bees killed her for reasons they alone know." --Jay Smith, Better Queens>

The above quote is about his trials prior to the method of confinement he describes and advocates.

Which is three frames wide like the one I have attempted to replicate from his words.

The three frame confinement is also found in "Contemporary Queen Rearing" Harry H. Laidlaw.

The only caution he(Smith) mentions is when adding to many bees to the breeder hive at one time.

[Michael Bush]

>The above quote is about his trials prior to the method of confinement he describes and advocates.

Yes.

>Which is three frames wide like the one I have attempted to replicate from his words.

Yes.

>The three frame confinement is also found in "Contemporary Queen Rearing" Harry H. Laidlaw.

I wonder where he got the idea?

>The only caution he(Smith) mentions is when adding to many bees to the breeder hive at one time.

I've seen that too where the queen gets balled. It's better to shake them into a box and leave them overnight or so to let them figure they are queenless first and then add them.