[Clayton Huestis]

Hi all,

Just made my first pass to check on first round of queens. What is and acceptable percentage for a sideline/ commercal beekeeper as far as successful mating flights go? At the momment I'm getting 1 failure out of 10, would you consider this to be well in the norm? I'd like to here what you all do with your failed nucs (as far as mated queens go)? Just drop in frame of eggs? Pop in a new cell? Thanks.

Clay

 

[bxtplus]

90% mated and laying is excellent. As far as what to do??.. Depends on what the intention was for the nuc. Its still early so another cell is an option if the nuc still has a good population of bees. A mated queen is another but keep an eye on them in August for busting out.

 

[Clayton Huestis]

All my nucs will be for wintering(4 frame deeps). I will likely pull a frame out of all my early nucs to keep populations under control. Prolly will have last cells hatching out first week of august-ish. After that will try to just do some light equalizing to get them all ready. Do you think pulling one frame out in july and one in early august would be feasible? To much of a drain on population?

 

[burns375]

my first try was around 80%. I also lost a nuc that was honey bound and completely absconded once the queen started laying.

 

[squarepeg]

just finished my last round and had one fail to get mated, i newspaper combined it with another nuc that was a little short on bees.

 

[johng]

90% is quite acceptable. During the spring I normally get 80-90%. During the summer I have had it fall down to 50%.

 

[bxtplus]

All my nucs will be for wintering(4 frame deeps). I will likely pull a frame out of all my early nucs to keep populations under control. Prolly will have last cells hatching out first week of august-ish. After that will try to just do some light equalizing to get them all ready. Do you think pulling one frame out in july and one in early august would be feasible? To much of a drain on population?

I am working in a similar direction except will winter my colonies(nucs) 4 over 4 and as 8 or 10 frame singles. After this last winter I lost too many 4 frame nucs in March during one of three below zero nights. All had 2" + or- circles of brood and starved with stores only inches away. Some of my stronger will be contributing a frame or two of brood in July and maybe August to avoid late swarms. Its a balancing act for sure to have a good sized cluster to winter with enough reserves to see them through.

 

[kilocharlie]

I'm very happy at 75% at each step of the way, and plan off that number. My first few grafts of the year are always WAY low, then improve considerably as I speed up.

I usually get 100% acceptance of mated queens using Laidlaw queen introduction cages, unless the queen is damaged or poorly mated. The Laidlaw push-in cage gives the newly-mated queen time to begin laying eggs, bringing up her queen substance levels, and causing acceptance. It often takes longer than the 2 to 3 days that candy releases give her.

 

[NY_BLUES]

90% is an excellent rate of return for mated queens. Are you saying that once they start laying that they are good to go, or are you waiting and examining brood frames after a few weeks. I ususally dont check my comeback rate until about 4 weeks after planting a cell, which gives me a good idea of the queens pattern, and laying rate. I usually plan on 75%, and sometimes its higher, sometimes its lower.

 

[jim lyon]

I have a saying: "in queen matings 90% IS 100%". It is pretty much the best you can hope for in any sort of scale. For us (in singles made with up with 3 combs+) it's typically about 80% 2 weeks after cell intro. and 85%+ if you allow time for the "rogue" virgins to mate. An occasional yard of 95% always seems to get offset by that occasional 65 to 75% disappointment. "Rebuilds" of the misses that are made up with a frame of open and a frame of sealed brood usually result in about a 65 to 70% success rate if the old bees are not shook out.