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So when do y'all start grafting?

7K views 20 replies 15 participants last post by  Kingfisher Apiaries 
#1 ·
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
 
#11 · (Edited)
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.
 
#19 ·
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
 
#20 ·
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.
 
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