Introduction
In the natural course of our annual management programme, we rear new queens from our best stock. These are primarily to replace our poorest queens, secondarily to supply members of the Cornwall Bee Improvement Group with replacement queens (as a last resort, since it is much better for members to get involved in the process of making nuclei and mating queens themselves). Any surplus queens are available for sale, preferably to local beekeepers. We can also supply them in starter nuclei, particularly for a new beekeeeper or a beekeeper new to West Cornwall.
To discuss the possibility of acquiring a new queen email James in the first instance.
Methods used
Over the years I have tried a number of methods to rear replacement queens. When a good colony makes its own queen cells, these were the natural choice to split into several new nucleus colonies. The picture left shows the split colony with queen cells above a mesh floored divider (and a 3-frame nuc box next to the stack). Waiting until the first queens are almost ready to hatch ensures that there are lots of recently hatched bees for the nucs which are best made up in another apiary to keep the bees from returning to their old site. Once the queens are mated, these nuclei could either be used to replace the poorest queens or be fed steadily, growing them into full-sized production colonies, usually for the following year. Another method I have used, also good for beginners, is to make the higher box have 3 or 4 compartments so the nucs mate from the home apiary.
I progressed to punching out cells with larvae and putting them into a colony from which the queen had been removed (or into a non-breeder colony split after making swarm cells, now culled once all larval cells have been sealed) and later to grafting into plastic cell cups. Until this point, queen cells were added to nuclei made up from a frame of brood taken from a strong colony, a frame of stores and a frame of foundation together with enough young bees which would accept a queen cell.
I am now using mini-mating nuclei, which are the most widely used approach to quantity rearing as they require only a cupful of bees to keep going and can be reused once the queen is proven and removed to a larger nucleus or full-sized colony. Grafting into the New Zealand plastic cell cups I was given in 2006by my friend Ben, cell cups became my primary method as they are easier to move around than those I have used hitherto. They fit (from above) into holes drilled into the top bar or better, into one or two wooden bars which can fit inside the frames. The time-honoured method is to clear all bees from a suitable frame (with larvae uo to a day old available, whatever else is on the frame), take it to the car, graft inside the car (keep it humid with water sprinkled around inside), graft the larvae into cell cups, insert one by one into the frame, then place the frames into the breeder (and the source frame back into its colony). I like the Chinese grafting tool, though the stainless steel tool is easy to use and rather more durable. It seems to be just taking the first steps that are the most challenging for the newcomer. It can seem daunting, which is why it is nice to start easy and work to the more complex methods. We give our members practice in grafting - once done, they go off happily to d.i.y.!
Hopkins method
Intrigued by a method I had heard about some years before and reminded about on the BEE-L discussion group, I had the romantic idea of trying it out. Always at the back of my mind was the potential for teaching from experience, however slight. The pictures show how easy it is, though to remove cells is a messy business, The cells seem quite sturdy once sealed, instead of the thin-walled variety I was used to with cell cups at sealing time, which needed to be left with a strong colony of bees to increase the cell walls to normal thickness. In the reality, cells were capped over 3 days or so and could not be left in the frame, because the only times you can handle a queen cell with little risk of damaging her as she goes through her metamorphosis into addult are just after sealing and a day or so before hatching. Accordingly all cells were removed just after being sealed, including the last one, which was still uncapped. Some went to full-3-framed nuclei, others to the polystyrene mini-nucs. Full details of the method.
useful links
description and drawings of the Swienty bine mini-nucleus box on Dave Cushman's web pages
description and drawings of the Apidea mini-nucleus box on Dave Cushman's web pages
queen raising methods and links
I keep promising to try Ben Harden's queen raising method!
timetable for queen rearing
simple methods of cell starting
Vince Cook promoted Harry Cloake's queen rearing methods
a few bullet points on raising queens to help plan or revise your schedule
queen rearing by the York Method with a timetable and mininucs
