[SDiver40]

Been trying my hand at grafting with minimal success. Tried it again using a different starter hive and different finisher hive. This time I got 26 out of 35 raised. Now if I can just get some of them mated?
Also, if anyone is wondering. I grafted half of them in home made wax cups and half in plastic cups. I couldn't tell any difference in the acceptance numbers. The wax cups did seem to hatch out a few hours earlier.
I'm now at 28 out of 35. And looks like thats going to end it.

 

[kilocharlie]

Looks like you are making progress! 74% ain't too bad. NO ROGUE QUEENS, starter/finisher colony strength, larva the right age, a nectar flow, and feed are some of the keys. My grafting score went up a lot after priming up my Starter/finishers with 7 to 10 frames of brood, and even more when I started using a 2-gallon frame feeder in the box that received the grafts. Michael Palmer suggests shaking super-fresh pollen into an empty comb to place next to the grafts.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Intheswamp]

Excellent!!! I hope to try my hand at it on a much smaller scale a bit later this summer. I will be using a single colony, most likely use a cloake board...or at least attempt to.

Nice job!
Ed

 

[kilocharlie]

Ed -
Thank you for the www.BeeWeather.com link in your tag! Love it.

 

[Intheswamp]

Well thank you, Charlie! Rarely do I get a comment on the station (even from the locals), just a little hobby that started from talking with another beek (who had a weather station)...hobbies are contagious, you know...be careful! In regards to weather info, the station is far away from your location so I'm curious as to what part of it you liked the most?

Thanks again for mentioning it!
Ed

 

[kilocharlie]

Ed - Re. the weather station, I hit the minus sign on the map until I had the nationwide view and I could see Ojai's general area, and the rainfall was small green blips moving in from off the coast. Very helpful.

BTW, when making the Cloake Board, it is a good idea to make it a little oversize, stack it into the bee boxes, trace the outline, and then cut the finished size 1/64" to 1/32" over and sand the final bit. My first efforts came out undersized when I realized I had to leave room for the bent part of the push-in board to go close to the outside of the front of the hive. The wooden frames on my Cloake Boards stick out in front about an inch, with the metal push-in board going very close to the front of the hive box.

I cut the queen excluder down to fit the frame (the excluder part does NOT have to go wall-to-wall), made the frame a bit wider than the lip of the hive boxes, both inside and out. But I had to extend the back to make it all fit, due to the push-in board ending farther forward than I expected. When cutting the excluder, it is best to leave the cross-wire attached to the edge, or the long wires can skew so that the queen might get through a wide gap.

I also had a problem folding the edges of the sheet metal push-in board straight enough. A slight taper (~about 1/16"), with the part that goes in first being a little bit narrower that the bent lip end seems to help. I think a piece of Masonite would work every bit as well as sheet metal.