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Question: Glenn Apiary "Special Queen banking frame" d^for artifical insemination

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#1 ·
Question: Glenn Apiary "Special Queen banking frame" d^for artifical insemination

Dear all,

having browsed through the "Glenn Apiary" website I stumbled on the following snippet of information:

http://www.glenn-apiaries.com/apimondia_1.html

The bank frame has little doors for each of 55 queens. A metal bar securely locks the doors. The back of the frame is also covered with screen. After about a week when the queens are sexually mature, this frame will fit over a special box full of bees, which will feed the queens while they are outside the hive for the insemination process.
There is also a little picture of how that frame might look like. But the information is scarce.

So, does anyone have more information on

1) that special frame (back and front) they used (design, thickness, etc.)?

2) the design of the box on which that frame "sits" (for/during the insemination process); e.g. what is the size of that box ... is it designed to hold frames ... special lid, etc.

I highly appreciate your help.

Thanks.

Chris.
 
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#2 ·
Re: Question: Glenn Apiary "Special Queen banking frame" d^for artifical insemination

Dear all,

having browsed through the "Glenn Apiary" website I stumbled on the following snippet of information:

http://www.glenn-apiaries.com/apimondia_1.html



There is also a little picture of how that frame might look like. But the information is scarce.

So, does anyone have more information on

1) that special frame (back and front) they used (design, thickness, etc.)?

2) the design of the box on which that frame "sits" (for/during the insemination process); e.g. what is the size of that box ... is it designed to hold frames ... special lid, etc.

I highly appreciate your help.

Thanks.

Chris.
Glenn writes:
"After about a week when the queens are sexually mature, this frame will fit over a special box full of bees, which will feed the queens while they are outside the hive for the insemination process."

In our system there is one moment (15 min) when the queens do not need to be fed, and that is when they are outside the hive during the insemination process. I take one queen at a time.

But: If more queens are taken to the lab there is a need for feed bees.

- Cage structure: One frame of boxes for the queens and other for the nursing bees, closed together, no flying package just for the insemination process

Two options:
- There is no possibility for the attendant bees to come into the queens compartment, otherwise taking the queen out of the cage is difficult. All bees would come out when taking out and returning the queen, not practical.

But this could be solved with CO2.

- There is a possibility for the bees to come to the queens compartment. All the bees are gassed with CO2, the queen is inseminated and put together with the attendant bees after insemination, to ensure care and warmth when semen is travelling to spermateca.
 
#3 · (Edited)
Re: Question: Glenn Apiary "Special Queen banking frame" d^for artifical insemination

I believe that Tom eventually changed to using small jars for his I.I. queens to hatch out of their cells in and stay in the first week of life. My guess from his photos is that these were about 150 milliliter jars. I'm pretty sure he had a dab of queen candy in them.

For comparison / contrast, the little "Shooter" plastic bottles with the screw-on caps that the drunks buy hard liquor in are 50 mL, so about 3 times that volume.

In my operation, I use the jars for queens to receive instrumental insemination only. The queen bank frames are frame-shaped "baskets" that hold 2 rows of California slot queen cages for the non- I.I. queens, or for any queen that has already been inseminated, or is already laying. The queen bank frame goes in a box with plenty of nurse bees added, a pollen / open honey frame right next to the queen bank frame, stacked over a very strong colony that is also well-insulated. The queen bank hive need not be queenless, I use a queen excluder and the bank frames are at least 2 boxes away from the laying queen downstairs.

I made a wooden jig with a 3/4 inch diameter, thin-walled stainless steel tube and a torch to heat and melt a circle in the bottom of the 50 mL jars, which I plugged with corks. One more hole in the side was covered with #8 hardware cloth to provide ventilation. An old hippie friend said, "You're really making bongs, aren't you?", so I call them "queen bongs". I just thought it was a good starting place because of the screw cap is just right to let the queen walk out of the cage as she wished.

I also tried making sliding top, 5-hole queen cell hatching cages for the first 8 days after emergence, but before I could use them, the Thomas Fire wiped out my operation. I plan to try them again when I get up enough bees to start breeding again.
 
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