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Video: The Cell Builder explained

20K views 27 replies 16 participants last post by  crgshhn 
#1 ·
High everyone, i just wanted to share this video i made on how i raise my queens here in Brittany France. Not telling anyone how they should or shouldn't raise their queens, because everyone should try different methods until they find a method that works for them.
This Method is based of course on Mike Palmers 10 + 10 method. I would hope its a good learning tool for anyone learning cell building, as i have tried to pack in as much detail as possible.
There is obviously many ways to raise excellent queens and they all basically revolve around making a colony "hopelessly queen less" in order to utilise the emergency response, combined with the swarming impulse, which Mikes method personifies excellently.
Personally, I do change things a bit, as i remove started cells after 24 hours and use finishers for my cells, leaving the starter to run another 2 times before i return the queen right section and use it as a finisher on day 5 to 6 after the last round are capped. (Similar thing to a "swarm box starter" and "queen right finisher" but in a different format with the sustainability element brought in)
If your new to cell building, its a terrific way to learn the ins and outs of the entire process. You will get excellent cells, still packed full of royal jelly on the day of hatching.
Have a go learn a huge amount in the process.

https://youtu.be/TW_FJTnhilg
 
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#4 ·
I have always followed Palmer's cell builder queen rearing method pretty close. It just makes a lot of sense. I have not done a lot of research on using finishers. I can imagine you are using your starter to start a lot more cells but what would the advantage be over just setting up 3 starter/finisher combos. You still need strong finishers right?

(I haven't watched your video yet... maybe you answered all my questions in your video)
 
#13 · (Edited)
Separate starters (3kg) and finishers were used when my need for queens was bigger than today. (+200 queens)

The bees in starters ended up in Apidea mating nucs. Today I use inseminations and overwintered Mini-Plus hives for new queens.

Both work well. Although starters are said to be bomb proof, they can fail, too, if a gueen is accidently brushed in.
 
#20 ·
I've watched your video a few times now and love it! I plan to use this method this spring. A question I have, when you first load the top box with frames of sealed brood then a queen excluder below that and then the bottom box with the queen in it, what type frames of brood or other do you stock the bottom box with the queen in it? Are they sealed brood, open brood, nectar, pollen, drawn comb, foundation? Or does it matter? And then 10 days later when you set the bottom box with the queen off to the side turned 180*, does it matter what frames are in there with the queen at that point?

Thanks again for a wonderful video!
 
#22 ·
The bottom box has the frames from the original hive. You pick a strong hive, place a queen excluder on it and then place the frames of emerging brood on top of that. The extra frames are pretty much boosting an existing hive with young nurse bees that will be the correct age when you graft.
 
#23 ·
So since I am currently running 10 frame double deep hive, then I'll put a queen excluder over the top box, then set an empty box on top of the excluder, load it with capped brood, and now it will be three boxes high for this process? Just wonder if I could keep it to the original two box setup while doing this instead of 3 boxes? Is that possible by rearranging the frames as needed to put all capped brood in top box of two box set up?
 
#24 ·
I am sure it could be but why? Do you have a reason you would prefer keeping the stack down? To me that would make sense if the bees were not using the 10 frames you pulled but if that is the case you haven't really chosen a strong colony. But... You can have strong single deep setups so hopefully someone who runs them will chime in.
 
#28 ·
Richard, I just want to thank you for the wonderful videos you've made and the help you have provided in taking the time to answer questions and offer helpful guidance. I've watched your queen raising video at least 10 times to make sure I understood all the steps and details and then adjusted as needed for my hive setup as I talked about above. I also took your advice and put my grafting frames in two different finishers 24 hrs after putting them in the "big" cell starter the day of grafting (the big cell starter is one of the finishers after recombining it as in your video). Each grafting frame had 45 queen cell cups on them. I grafted on 4/21. I just looked at them and one has 29 cells being drawn out and the other 31 and they are very full of royal jelly. They each have a good full frame of fresh pollen next to them in their respective hives and I have kept sugar syrup on them since the day before I put the grafts/started cells in them. Here are a couple pics of how they look so far. Again, thank you for your help!
Bee Insect Honeybee Membrane-winged insect Beehive

Bee Honeybee Beehive Membrane-winged insect Canoe birch
 
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