So when do y'all start grafting?

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

OK, I know that there are a lot of migratory beekeepers on here from SD, ND, MN, etc that winter in TX, AR, LA, etc. When do y'all start grafting? I hear Valentines day is the time to set up queen yards, so mid February?
Mike

[avalonweddingsbcs]

i checked today... had drone cells with larvae on a pierco green frame...

also saw drone capped cells in other hives.. so a week from now?

[gregstahlman]

with all the cold weather we been having, hopefully by the end of the month. not seeing any drones layed here yet

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

Not seeing drones either. some eggs but that is it.

mike

[Matt Beekman]

Hopefully start grafting in a couple of weeks. The first round of drones are hatching.

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

I was out looking at hives today, lots of drone brood going, one hive had queen cells that had to be 8-9 days old. Hope to do a small graft end of next week.

mike

[Michael Palmer]

3' of snow here. No pollen until April. First graft this year on May 19.

[Naturegoods]

3' of snow here. No pollen until April. First graft this year on May 19.

We and our bees have to do in six months what other get 9 and 10 months to do. Does that mean that naturally selected northern bee varieties have to be better faster and more inclined to store bigger quantities of honey and pollen?

[sqkcrk]

If I recall correctly what I learned, one should start grafting queens when one sees drones emerging from the comb in Spring.

Or in Palmer's case, early summer.

[Tim Stewart]

I have drones in some hives that overwintered, I believe it's a sign of good nutrition. Not much drone brood, we've only had 4 flying days yet. Graft in May.

Tim

[Honey-4-All]

20 Days

Not far enough off. Once the grafting tool hits the busy season is ON. Easy days are gone. Great time of year. Got to love it.

Threw some bees in the Almonds yesterday that came from north of SF. They were way to heavy. We fed them like crazy including 10 lbs of sub since Thanksgiving. The "no rain January" helped them put on lots of weight. They where packed with pollen. Sweet. Looks like we are going to have to lighten them up a frame or two while in the almonds. Every frame inspected had 8 or 10 drones walking around. 5-7 frames of brood with drones coming on. Lots of capped ones. When we tore them apart the mite count on the exposed drone brood was great on our own line of queens. Only mite treatment since splits was one day shot of FA in late August. Should be enough drones out there in 5+ weeks unless it rains the whole time in the almonds. Looking forward to a great 2011. Not a bad start.

[sqkcrk]

Grafting in SC starts in March.

[chillardbee]

up here in Southern bc, we're hoping to put a round of grafts out at the start of april. This is the earliest we've ever done it.

[gregstahlman]

hopefully start sometime the first week of march

[WOpp]

We are going to start next week, We have many drones on our coast bees, I think it might work this early here in Ca. Goning to try a small amount just to see if the bees are ready this early.

[Ted Kretschmann]

Here in Alabama, soon, very soon. TK

[Card's Honey Farm]

CT is around May 1st. Looking for incoming pollen and 20 drones of the right age / graft -- (Dr. Conner and others offer insight on how to count drones of the right age)

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

Grafted Friday, another graft today. May have a small honey flow going.

mike

[timgoodin]

Anybody got any advice for West KY? I checked hives last weekend, no drones yet but several capped drone cells. No queen cups or queen cells yet. We are getting ready for bradford pear bloom, plum, and early stone fruits. Suppose to be 75 here tomorrow but night temps still around 32. Hives building up nicely. I'm guestimating one could start grafting here around April 10th? Maybe sooner?

Tim

[standman]

Tim, I think I am about 200 miles southwest of you. If I remember correctly, you can start grafting about the time you see the drones emerging. The drones mature more slowly than the queens do, and need a couple of weeks head start. That is not a perfect indicator, but I think it is close.
As someone noted, I too have had drones carried late into the year, and even had a few that i think overwintered. It seems to only happen in my strongest hives, with plenty of honey and pollen stores. Not sure how these drones would fare with the daunting physical task of mating, especially after not flying all winter. Of course, I may be "humanizing" them too much.
Either way, I like the idea of an early grafted queen well mated with drones from my strongest hives so I can let them build up on our strongest flow, which seems to come fairly early. This is one major difference I see between our queen rearing and that of northern beeks. If we wait very long, we end up having to feed heavily, and then worry about robbing from other hives during the dearth which hits us about July 1.