[Klaus]

Hey everybody,
What kind of kit do you recommend for getting started on raising my own queens?
I have several other questions:
1 is it too late in the year to try to raise some queens?
2 My eye sight is not real good so I would like not to have to transfer
eggs.What do you do about that.
3 My hives are all mediums can I use them as queen castles?
4 What books/videos would you recommend for a beginner?

Thanks

 

[rkereid]

Hey everybody,
What kind of kit do you recommend for getting started on raising my own queens?

There are lots of ways to do it, you may even come up with your own unique system! I would suggest reading through Michael Bush's excellent overview of queenrearing and methods here- http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm

I have several other questions:
1 is it too late in the year to try to raise some queens?

Talk to some beekeepers in your area to get a better idea based on your season. Here in the mtns. of VA, it would be the tail end of queenrearing considering it will take a month at least before she is laying.

2 My eye sight is not real good so I would like not to have to transfer
eggs.What do you do about that.
3 My hives are all mediums can I use them as queen castles?

Yes. I have mine split in to three sections of three frames each.

4 What books/videos would you recommend for a beginner?

See above.

Good luck, Richard

Thanks

 

[kwest]

i have a nicot queen rearing system from mann lake that i haven't used yet. i bought some nucs from Don ( fat bee man) and talked over raising queens with him. then watched this video and i just duplicate it. it has worked good. much easier that other systems it think. I take several frames of brood covered with bees, eggs, and larva, a frame or two of honey and pollen. and shake them in a hive. ( make sure you dont get the queen). then check back in 9 days and cut out the queen cells. it works even better yet if you take the old queen and make a split with her and leave the old hive to raise queens. raising queens this way may not turn out huge #'s of queens per try but I dont have a huge # of hives to support raising a bunch of queens all at once. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVKLgBgYPok

 

[lighto]

Hi The Hopkins Method may work for you . Yes it works ! Maybe to well . You might end up with a few extra queens !
http://www.beesource.com/point-of-view/jerry-hayes/the-hopkins-method-of-queen-rearing/