[Michael Bush]

The Practical Queen Breeder: Beekeeping Naturally, by Michael Bush
Details: Paperback 6 x 9 in. B&W 210 pages 114 illustrations.
This is my current method of queen breeding and rearing after many years of trying various techniques. It is the one I find most reliable in getting cells started, finished and mated. The reason I do this method is that it has the most success in my experience under adverse conditions as well as good conditions.

 

[Michael Bush]

Table of Contents
About this book..................................................... i
Section 1: Concepts............................................ 1
Breeding............................................................. 3
The Whole Bee Concept....................................... 19
Queen Rearing Concepts...................................... 27
Queen Rearing Method Names.............................. 47
A Few Good Queens............................................ 53
Quality of Emergency Queens............................... 57
Timing............................................................... 63
Section 2: Equipment........................................ 65
Equipment you will need...................................... 67
Swarm Box/Starter Hive...................................... 69
Grafting Tools..................................................... 73
Cell Bars............................................................ 75
Cell Cups........................................................... 77
Easel................................................................. 85
Mating Nucs....................................................... 87
Calendar............................................................ 91
Brush................................................................ 95
Hairclip Queen Catcher........................................ 97
Marking Pens..................................................... 99
Marking Tube................................................... 101
Queen Muff...................................................... 103
Section 3: Method........................................... 105
Overview......................................................... 107
Setup the Cell Starter........................................ 109
Find the Larvae to Graft From............................. 111
Grafting........................................................... 113
Put the Cells in the Starter.................................. 117
Setting up a Cell Finisher.................................... 119
Setting up Mating Nucs....................................... 123
Checking the Mating Nucs................................... 125
Section 4: Management................................... 127
Weekly Management......................................... 129
Managing Mating Nucs....................................... 131
Shipping Queens............................................... 133
Queen Banks.................................................... 139
Winding Down in the Fall..................................... 141
Things I don’t currently do.................................. 143
Synopsis.......................................................... 151
Conclusion........................................................ 153
Appendices..................................................... 155
Glossary.......................................................... 157
Acronyms........................................................ 193
Index.............................................................. 197
About the Author............................................... 201