Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Alternatively, having prepared your cell bars, place plastic queen cells (with their special
mounts) on to the bars. There is no difference in acceptance rates between wax and
plastic queen cells, but plastic cells are awkward to clean afterwards, whereas you simply
re-melt wax ones.
You should now choose the colony from which you want to raise queens. In this colony,
place a frame of newish comb in the centre of the brood nest. Eight days later, you will
find eggs and newly hatched larvae ready for transfer. These small larvae will usually be
situated around the edges of older larvae and capped cells. From this colony, take the
comb of eggs and the very young larvae. (This is easier if the comb is of newish wax.)
Take this frame to your shed or car/lorry cab and inspect the larvae carefully. Look for
those that are so small that you can hardly see them. The ones you want will resemble
a small letter c or a comma sitting in the bottom of the cell in a bed of royal jelly. Use a
magnifying glass if necessary.
With a scalpel, pare down the cell walls of a row of these larvae. This will make it easier
to remove them. Using your favourite grafting tool, transfer each larvae you have chosen
from its original cell to the artificial cell. If you roll a larvae or in any way damage it,
discard it.
When you have transferred the required number of larvae, put the cell bar(s) into
the down position and, for safety, place the cell frame in an empty nucleus hive. Next,
return the rest of the brood frame to its brood chamber. Remember that, if you produce
too many queen cells, you may not have enough colonies to provide the bees necessary
to make up the number of nucs. If you need 20 queens, go for 30 queen cells to allow
for failures and wastage.
Now put the cell bar(s) in the down position and place the frame into the rearing colony.
Some 48 hours later, check the bars for acceptance. You will know if the cells have been
accepted because the bees will have drawn out the cells and the larvae will be floating
