Moving Queen Cells

[JohnBeeMan]

Are what stages is it safe to move capped queen cells - day from being capped?

Is it advisable to try to move frames of cells capped after ony 5 days?

[johng]

Here is a nice link to queen math. http://www.thebeeyard.org/queencalen...ay=1&year=2011

So three days after being capped. 10days after grafting

[Lburou]

Try this. Enter the date the egg was layed and you have a calendar of days with milestones all labeled. You could gently move the cell five days after it is capped, but you don't have much time.

[Joseph Clemens]

I understand that there is a period, right after the cells are sealed that the young queen spins her cocoon, positions herself, head-down, then becomes a prepupae, then a pupa. It seems copacetic that this would be the time when rough handling could most easily lead to injury to the young queens.

Despite that, I have discovered that handling and placing the cells, can be done successfully, at any time in their lives. I have placed cells that were just begun (less than 24 hours post graft), and others at every stage, up to emergence, even a few where the young virgins had begun the process of chewing their way to freedom. I attribute my success with this, to the fact that my cell builder colonies are immediately adjacent to my mating nucs (all are within 20 yards of each other); and that I very gently and carefully hand carry each one from their cell bar to their adoptive colonies.

[AramF]

The larvae is feeding on RJ for one more day after the cell is capped. If she gets jarred roughly she looses her contact with royal jelly. Apparently after the contact is lost, she cannot always get back to eating RJ, which is very detrimental to her development. After she pupates you can jar her all you want (don't know why you would want to) she is immobilized by then. I've loaded a hive with queen cells of various ages into my car and drove it for 10 miles, over two sets of railroad tracks and some infrequent potholes. They hatched just fine. I have even moved emergency queen cells from plastic foundation with hole where the cell attached to plastic. As long as the bees cannot "probe" the hole, they will attach the cell to the frame and the queen will hatch.