What do you consider to be the best queen cell cup?
SO far the ones I have seen the most about are JZ-BZ Push in and Base Mount or home made.
Not sure what else is out there.
What do you consider to be the best queen cell cup?
SO far the ones I have seen the most about are JZ-BZ Push in and Base Mount or home made.
Not sure what else is out there.
All work and no play makes a happy bee.
I know you can get store bought wax cups, and then there are the ones that go with graftless systems, but is there another choice? The JZBZs are easy to get, cheap, easy to use, and they work right out of the bag. That's probably gonna be hard to beat.
I like the JZ BZ wide base push in cell cups, the ones with the center post on the back side. I use a grafting frame with 3 cell bars, I typically get about 45 grafts (15 per bar). These have worked great for me.
Well not a ton of responses on this thread but I have also been reading other threads. I see JZ BZ mentioned so often it is almost the new name for queen cups. They should give them a more catchy name and they stand a chance of being the name for grafting.
Since I am not really interested in any non grafting queen rearing methods. I suppose it is time to start shopping for grafting equipment.
Anyone have a complete list of what I will need from start to having caged queens. I am not sure I will be able to mate a batch of queens but I am at bare min able to think about rearing say a lot of 100 cups.
So far I know I need, excluding the starter colony and finishing colony.
Queen Cell cups
frame to hold queen cell cups.
Royal jelly to "Prime" the cups.
cell protectors ???
Queen cages
Possibly a marking pen, not sure I will mark them though.
Battery box or shipper if anyone takes me up on the offer to buy them at my cost.
Grafting tool
Location to do the grafting.
I am not real certain what I will need at the grafting stand, wet towel good light magnifier that sort of thing.
At jzsbzs.com they mention a "cell bar" are those still available anywhere? If not does anyone have the specs to build one. They mention that the cups do not fit in a groove with this bar and I like that idea when I read about the issue of cups falling out of other types of frames. I assume the cups press into a hole rather than a groove in these bars.
Other than bees to start and finish the queen cells that is about all I can think of. I am not real concerned with the grafting process itself. I have tied number 28 flies for over 22 years. I have also been an artist for as long as I can remember. I have exceptional manipulation ability and dexterity with my hands.
I am also interested in finding anyone that would be interested in buying the extra queens from me at my cost and postage if needed. this could be as many as 99 queens but they would only cost a couple bucks each. More if they where mated queens. I don't charge people when I am learning how to do something. I am not sure how much of a need there is this time of year for queens. So I just might end up with a batch that have no place to go.
All work and no play makes a happy bee.
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