preparing queen cells

[magnet-man]

Check how rough they handle these queen cells. I have always been taught to handle queen cells very gently. I guess what they do works or they wouldn't do it.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=st88Bf...eature=related

[drobbins]

wow, pretty neat
they have a couple other good videos about bees too

Dave

[Bizzybee]

"I have always been taught to handle queen cells very gently."

That tends to be a universal problem. There are many things taught that are traditional or just plain wrong. That doesn't mean that standards should be ignored but it also doesn't mean that they should be written in stone. Straying away will either reinforce or lead to new discoveries that were missed or incorrectly evaluated.

That being said, a fully developed queen in a cell is a bee ready to emerge. Prior to the exoskeleton hardening, handling this way wouldn't be advised.

[hfrysinger]

Any idea what they are doing here?? Sure looks like it would not be good for the queens!
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mOmEHD...eature=related

[D Coates]

Very cool. They are making wax queen cell cups. They will then transfer 1 to 3 day old larva to create the very queens you see in the other videos. Most people now buy and use premade plastic cups as they are less delicate and easier to use/make.

Here's what they look like: https://www.dadant.com/catalog/produ...roducts_id=850

[WVbeekeeper]

You can buy compressed wax cell cups from Kelley's.

http://go.netgrab.com/secure/kelleys...asp?product=97

[BEES4U]

I use to buy the wide based cell cups until my supplier said that they discontinued them because of poor larvae acceptance and growth related to chemicals found in the wax used!
ABJ had an artivle that was well written about the weight of the virgin queens and the % of chemical in the wax that was used for the cell cup.
It was one of those chemicals that bee keepers used for mite control.
So, if you want to know the purity of the wax that goes into your cell cups you could make your own from known pure bees wax sources or buy the plastic ones offered by supply companies.


Regards,
Ernie
Lucas Apiaries

[tarheit]

It's contrary to what I had always read about queen and how I try to handle them. But Ripe queen cells can take a surprising amount of abuse without any apparent damage to the queen. They even can be shipped UPS Air and I'm sure that's far rougher than the treatment in the video.

-Tim

[WVbeekeeper]

ABJ had an artivle that was well written about the weight of the virgin queens and the % of chemical in the wax that was used for the cell cup.
It was one of those chemicals that bee keepers used for mite control.

If you want queens with low weight, higher supercedure rates, and below average fecundity you need to use caumphos and fluvalinate based miticides. You can also use the chems if you want sterile drones too.

[tecumseh]

bee4u writes:
I use to buy the wide based cell cups

tecumseh replies:
yep.. I certainly use to like those all in one cell cups and it always seemed to me they were easier to attach to the bars and were easier to handle as ripe cells. currently (when I do graft) I use kelley's alternative... which is the wood dowel thingee and wax cup.

I wondered (since a couple of folks mentioned the problem directly)... at what level (ppm, ppb) did the chemicals contaminate the cell cups to create a low acceptance problem?

[Dale Hodges]

Wonder what his percentage of failed queens is? I've lost queens from "fat" fingers, can't guess how many he's damaged "tossing" them around like that.