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Basic Queen Rearing

2K views 5 replies 5 participants last post by  minz 
#1 ·
Just wondering if some experienced queen breeders could use this thread to post some basic info for us noobs. maybe post some photos etc about how you go about the business.
  • Preparation
  • Setting up cell builders, etc.
  • Best way to collect larvae
  • Photos of your grafting setup.
  • Timetables
  • Anything I have missed.
 
#2 ·
I’d suggest spending some time reading through some of the stickies here on the bee and queen and bee breeding site first. A real wealth of info there from some of the best.
 
#4 ·
I do small scale queen rearing once or twice a year. I do 10 - 15 cells at a time in a 5 frame queenless starter-finisher. This is what the starter-finisher looks like right after adding the grafts. The piece of plywood on the top is covering the hole the sugar water bottle will be going in. Beehive Bee Insect Honeybee Apiary
 
#5 ·
Off of the main Beesource page in the Resources section and then in the Elements of Beekeeping is a article from Oldtimer on queen rearing. From that article, I loved the idea about sequestering the queen to create the larvae for his method. I used that for my first attempts at grafting. I had no idea what size larvae should be used and this system takes the guesswork out of it. Any larvae on the comb will be the right age and size. You cannot guess wrong. I don't need to sequester the queen anymore but for a beginner without a mentor to guide me, this really helped.
 
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