[Slee]

I am planning on placing four queen cells into four splits I made yesterday. I plan on waiting till the hives have capped there queen cells, killing all those cells and placing cells I split at the same time from a desired hive.
Any tricks or recommendation on the best way to place the cells into the hive?

 

[Vance G]

I stick the base pointing down in the honey rim on a brood frame and mark the frame with a sharpie so I know where the cell is. Then I stay out of that colony for three weeks. Nothing to learn much before then.

 

[sqkcrk]

I plan on waiting till the hives have capped there queen cells,

Why? Why wait?

 

[Slee]

Sqkcrk,
I am waiting because I do not want the queens that the splits will raise. I want to replace with the queen cells from a hive that I like the genetics better. All the splits were made yesterday, so they all will be at the same stage of queen development. I will destroy the cells from the queen cells from the hive I do not like and replace with the cells from the hive I do like. I need to wait at least long enough that the splits have no viable larva to start a new queen.

 

[sqkcrk]

Sqkcrk, I need to wait at least long enough that the splits have no viable larva to start a new queen.

That makes sense. But you don't need to wait until emergency queen cells are capped, do you? If you feel you must wait until there are no longer any young worker larvae, shouldn't they all be too old once an emergency cell has started to be drawn?

If you are expecting better acceptance than if you installed queen cells tomorrow, is that realistic? If you wait a cpl days after splitting, isn't that enough time?

Whatever works for you.

 

[drlonzo]

Waiting until after the emergency queens in the splits have been capped and then remove them may make you a problem you don't want. See once the open brood is gone, the pharamones keeping the workers from developing functional ovaries and becoming laying workers tends to fade away. Therefore allowing such things to happen. If you've never dealt with a laying worker problem, it isn't fun. They will KILL your queen cells quickly or a mated queen even. May want to rethink the acceptance thing. One or Two days is plenty.

 

[Lauri]

I put my cells in the day I make up the nucs with no waiting time. I have no issues with volunteer cells being made.

 

[Slee]

Drlonzo,
All the splits had comb with all stages, from egg to capped brood. If. The queens and workers are capped at nine days I should have should have open larva for three more days after that based on the three days that the eggs take to hatch. That would put the hive at just three days without open brood before the queens emerge. I hope that is not to long before I have a laying worker. I have done many walk away splits and not had a problem to this year. One hive had a laying worker.
What do you think?

 

[Slee]

Great way to do it Lauri.

 

[sqkcrk]

Lauri,
I am glad to see that you place your queen cell down on the face of the comb. The queen rearer that snl and I worked w/ some this Spring would approve. So many people simply set the cell between the top of the top bars. So when the temperature drops the bees will leave it exposed.

 

[Lauri]

Lauri,
I am glad to see that you place your queen cell down on the face of the comb.

I'm glad you're glad my friend

I usually put it in the top third of the frame of brood. Just try not to squish the brood in the process.
I'm no expert, but have a very high hatch and mated return rate. It works for me.

 

[stavros]

Great photo Lauri, it explains it all very well. Do you leave an empty frame though, next to the one with the queen cell? Else how do you avoid it from getting squished?

 

[Lauri]

Do you leave an empty frame though, next to the one with the queen cell? Else how do you avoid it from getting squished?

The cell is in the center of the mating nuc with frame of brood on each side, pushed gently together.

In the previous photo I was making up the nuc as I placed the cell. I just left it open so I could take a photo to show it's placement.

When you place the cell, Think Incubator. Warm, nurturing.

Even when I hatch them out in the incubator, I carry the newly hatched virgins in my pocket (In roller cage) with a small disposable hand warmer. Keeps them from getting chilled and lethargic on cool spring days when I direct release them into nucs.

I place cells anywhere between 2 days before hatching to just hours. They are fairly tough by then, although should be handled with care.

I push the two brood frames gently but snugly together for good contact on the cell.

Here are 48 hour cells beign started:

And the same cells at day 5..not quite capped and still very delicate:

A cell near hatching..tough exterior by then:

Marked right after hatcing from the incubator:

Or find them and mark them after hatching:

 

[sqkcrk]

Working w/ my friend Lynn, when we placed new queen cells in the mating nucs, we spread the frames just far enough apart to reach down between the frames and push the edge of the cell base into the comb enough to hold in place and then push the frames together.

 

[MGCBester]

Do you just mark your queens using your fingers are you use something else
Thank

 

[Lauri]

Do you just mark your queens using your fingers are you use something else
Thank

That made me laugh for a second...What else would I hold them with? LOL, Toes, lips Then I remembered they make those marker tubes

Yes, I hold them with my fingers. Darn paint markers tho..don't always cooperate with a uniform spot. I hate the close up photos of a queen with a bad paint job. That super macro setting shows all the flaws

 

[sqkcrk]

You mean you don't have a spray gun, Lauri? What w/ all of that machinery around there I figured some body work must go on sometime.

Pin her down in one of those tube thingys, mask the area like the body shop does, and spray on a coat or two. Under coat and top coat.

 

[Nabber86]

Do you just mark your queens using your fingers are you use something else
Thank

I got one of those queen marking tubes a couple of weeks ago. It's a cheap plastic tube with a little foam plunger. It's really easy to use compared to chasing the queen around and trying to get her to sit still to mark her. My fingers are not nimble enough to catch a queen without hurting her.

 

[sqkcrk]

How do you catch her to put her in the tube?