[fafrd]

I hope soon to see the first brood from 6 queens I have rasied from swarm cells. I only need 2 of these queens immediately and would like to bank the other 4 as spares, in case I find someone who wants to purchase some local feral queens, or in case I want to start some new nucs later this summer.

What is the easiest way to bank a few queens - does each of them need to be kept in their own small nuc with frames of brood being robbod out frequently enough to keep the nuc from getting overcrowded, or is there an easy way to bank multiple queens within a single hive/nuc?

Any advice appreciated.

-fafrd

 

[fafrd]

Should probably have done a bit of research on the forum before posting my question... I found this thread from a few years ago on the subject of queen banking:

http://www.beesource.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-201080.html

Woud be interesting to hear if Michael Bush, Michael Palmer, or BWrangler (Dennis Murrell) has evolved their perspective on queen banking over the past several years.

It sounds to me like converting mating nucs to small/medium sized nucs to maintain a few queens (one per nuc) is probably the most practical solution for the advanced hobbiest with a few hives. I'd be interested to understand if anyone who has employed this technique uses any 'rules of thumb' or 'tricks' to keep the nucs small. As an example, would it be a good idea to remove half of the capped brood every week to keep the nucs from getting too big too fast?

-fafrd

 

[Beeslave]

How long do you want to bank them for? With only a few queens I would leave them in the nucs. If I recieve queens and can't use them for a while I will make up a queenless nuc with lots of young bees and a frame of hatching brood on each side of the queens. I put the cages inside a custom frame that holds the queen cages so the nurse bees can feed the queens and put a jar of syrup on them.

 

[brac]

Nice link, I see MB was asking the question, that was 2003. I think now he mostly answers questions.

 

[odfrank]

Advertise them for sale on Craigslist. My bait hives in Berkeley aren't getting any action. Caught two in Palo Alto, one huge one.

 

[THALL]

If you find your mating nucs are getting crowded, you could make more nucs!! Given that you have 6 or more mating nucs, by taking a frame of brood from your crowed nucs to make up a new nuc. Or if you do not desire any more nucs you could always beef up your small production colonies with frames of brood and bees from your over crowded nucs.