Had a queenless colony in our Billy yard. I left the top cover off while going thru a couple other colonies looking for queen cells. If I didn't find any queen cells I was going to add a frame of larva. Decided making our own queens at this point was the best since I am not able to find a source of the breed I want. After doing two colomies it was getting late and the shade made it impossiable to see eggs and young larva so told Kare we would come back Friday and search again. Kare said there was one colony still in the sun so lets look in there. Went thru about 4 frames then here comes a frame with 2 real nice cells on it. Placed it in the queen less colony. Went back to the place we found the cells, and did two more frames with cells which I cut off the frame and put in Kares burr comb bucket. Next thing Kare says there is a queen in thge burr bucket isn't it? Sure enough there is a queen, I took the bucket to the queenless colony and let her walk out onto the top bars and bee greeted with out any ado. Kare says there is another queen in the burr bucket. We put this one in a queen cage I had in the truck. Went back to the cell produceing colony and found more cells. I used my 5 in 1 tool to cut open a cell to see another queen, got another cage from the truck and attemped top get her in it. No luck with that one she flew off poor thing. Found another cell and cut this ones tip off and held the cage in place for her to crawl into. Found even another one wich went into a cage which was rather ratty but held together fine with a bit of duck tape. And the next one went into a plastic bottle I keep quarters in for the car wash. I did punch holes in it with a nail for air. So what do we do with the 4 virgin queens? Make 4 nucs of course. Do they have to be put in a colony with a cage like a mated queen? Called a queen breeder I know in Ohio and was told that they do not have a queen scent for a while only the scent of a newly hatched worker and could be kept in a warm place for a couple of days untill I could put them in a nuc with a derict release method. Being out of nuc boxes at the present time, I called a fellow beekeeper and asked how many he had not in use. He had 4 which I went and got. Kare and I went to our 4 strongest colonys and pulled 3 frames, one of capped brood one of honey and pollen and one of honey to go with the 2 frames of new foundation. Brought them back to our front yard apiary and set them on a stand. Now the test, I released the first virgin queen on the intercover. Some workers came up and started cleaning her. I watched them for some time >before steering her to the hole. Down she went and all seemed well as I closed up. All the other 3 went in the same fashion in two weeks when the queens are laying we will transfur them to 10 frame deeps. They will make our 50th colonies, I reached the goal I had set for last fall on the amount of colonys we would have going into winter 2006/7. As a post script:: our Golden Rod is now starting to bloom. Very early this year. Al
Congrats on reaching the 50th colony point Al. I tried to understand everything you wrote but alas some of it went over my head @ me. It does sound really engrossing though. What was the breed of queen bee you wanted and why the shortage?
Yes We harvest the honey. We will start doing that at the end of the month and expect to get 3500 pounds this year of extracted and a mear 30 pounds of cut comb as it didn't sell all that well last year for us. The breed of Queen we wanted is Minnesota Hygeinic First. Not many people deal with them yet and those that do have a back order list out of this world due to all the rain they are recieveing. New World Carnolionans second and again rain is playing a major role in setting back the amount we could buy. I must say though I am happey with the 10 different queens we have raised our selves other than these last 5. Think I am going to learn the queen rearing system this winter andf do that too. A NW Carnoliona queen. Al
My dad used to raise bee's .He quit when the fire ants arrived .Not many bee trees found around here anymore. Its interesting to read all about them as I was small and afraid of getting stung.I am allergic to them.
Very interesting - I had never thought about having a special cage just for keeping the queens in, nor how a new queen gets started up that way. Congrats on your half-a-hundred!
Queens are raised by a number of breeders all over the world. They are put in cages and shipped thru the mail and by UPS. This is a Plastiac cage named a jzbz cage. the neck I am holding the cage by is filled with a candy made from powder sugar and corn syrup. Once in the bee hive the workers eat the candy to slow release the queen into her new home.takes about 5 days. I place the cage in the hive between the frames and then squeeze them together. This queen cage is called a 3 hole Benton cage. They normally place 5 or 6 worker bees in the cage with the queen. Friends in Canada get their queens from Denmark in this type of cage. Al
"My dad used to raise bee's .He quit when the fire ants arrived .Not many bee trees found around here anymore. Its interesting to read all about them as I was small and afraid of getting stung.I am allergic to them." Do you carry an epipen then? Most people who get stung will swell up and itch for a couple of days, thats normal. People really allergic to them go into shock, throat swells shut causeing breathing difficultys. Al
