[Glen H]

So yesterday I grafted 5 larva into queen cups, looks like 4 of them have taken.
I want to cell punch, 5 more larvae in 5 days from now and am hoping I'll be able to use the same hive with Cloake board as the cells are in right now.
Will the bees make additional queen cells if there is already sealed or unsealed cells up above the Cloake Board?
I'll slide the board back in to make the top part queen-less again a day before cell punching takes place.


Glen

 

[beepro]

How come you don't do these graft ALL on the same day?
Why do grafts on different days? I don't get it unless you are really on a time
constraint.
Nobody knows what the bees will do with this process you are trying. In 5 more
days the first batch should be already capped. Hard to say if they will make more qcs
on the 2nd graft. This is a great experiment though to try to see the result. I usually
do my graft all in one day so that the virgins are easier to keep track after their mating
flight.

 

[Glen H]

How come you don't do these graft ALL on the same day?
Why do grafts on different days?

For three reasons.
One: I made enough for myself. Now my buddy wants some.
Two: when I did the grafts all I had in the hives was plastic foundation kind of hard to cell punch plastic foundation.
I found a frame of drawn out foundation-less dry comb yesterday and put it in the hive for the queen to lay up this week.
Three: This is my first time grafting, my second season with bees and I felt one set at a time is all My nerves would handle.
It was a dry run, figuring from reading other people experience, that they wouldn't take. I got 4 out of five that took.

Glen

 

[beedeetee]

One of the main reasons for cell building failure is that the beekeeper misses existing queen cells in the cell builder. You would need to make the cell builder queenless with no queen cells for at least a day. I would use a different hive to build the cells. Someone just posted a method using two Cloake Boards to raise two sets of cells in a cell builder though.

 

[Glen H]

One of the main reasons for cell building failure is that the beekeeper misses existing queen cells in the cell builder. You would need to make the cell builder queenless with no queen cells for at least a day. I would use a different hive to build the cells. Someone just posted a method using two Cloake Boards to raise two sets of cells in a cell builder though.

OK thanks beedeetee!
I'll see if I can find that post you are referring to. Did a search for the post you were talking about can't find it. can you post a link please?
I only have two hive, and a new 9 frame nuc hive coming this week.
I could take the cells out and put them in a five frame nuc with frames of capped brood and a frame of honey and pollen.... for a couple of days once the cells are sealed. And do the cell punching then. But then the sealed cells will be at the do not disturb stage!?!?! so not sure I would want to be moving them from the five frame nuc back into the main hive again. The other hive is just starting to build up from winter losses within the hive, so I don't want to be messing with it or using it for making queens right now.

Glen

 

[beedeetee]

Look at the last (currently) post here:

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?244271-My-Cell-Building-Methods/page4

Actually you should probably read the whole thread to understand cell builders.

 

[Glen H]

Look at the last (currently) post here:

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?244271-My-Cell-Building-Methods/page4

Actually you should probably read the whole thread to understand cell builders.

Cool thanks!

 

[Glen H]

I pulled my foundation-less wax target frame today to try my hand at cell punching and the bees have filled the entire frame with honey.
The girls are not following my grafting spread sheet yet again LOL.

Glen