Artificially built-up queen cells

[AramF]

Just curious, has anyone tried to bypass cell builder stage by gently dipping grafted plastic cells into wax several times to make the cell look like they got wax started on the edges. Just a discussion topic, brain storming is welcome.

[ralph3]

What are you trying to accomplish by doing this? You can take a jzbz cup right out of the new bag. Graft in it and they will build it up just fine.

In a perfectly controlled environment cells apparently don't even need to be capped. Look at the middle/tail end of this clip.

[AstroBee]

ralph3,

Fascinating video. I never knew this could happen. I wonder why the queen didn't spin a cocoon? The resulting queen did look pretty small...

Thanks for posting.

[ralph3]

I don't think that was a queen in the video. Yet I can't understand the language so.

It does show that a bee can be raised from larvae to pupae without being capped. Makes me rest easier when i see uncapped brood in some of my hives. The uncapped pupae seem to be doing just fine. The nurses might even be able to remove a mite without damaging the pupae too.

[AstroBee]

I don't think that was a queen in the video.

That was my thought too. However seems odd they chose that image to end the video.

[KevinR]

Just curious, has anyone tried to bypass cell builder stage by gently dipping grafted plastic cells into wax several times to make the cell look like they got wax started on the edges. Just a discussion topic, brain storming is welcome.

The wax build up isn't really the important part of a cell builder. The point of the cell builder is to have a ton of bees of the right age, feeding the larvaof the right age LOTS of royal jelly. I used cut cells, wax cups and jzbz to raise queens. Sometimes at the 48hour mark the cells from the starter are barely bigger than the starting point, but they are full of jelly.