Ben Harden Method

[Stickyfingers]

Anyone tried this method?

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/benhardenmethod.html

 

[Black Comb]

Yes, it works.

 

[J.M.Learner]

A good method.

 

[Stickyfingers]

Yes, it works.

why do people go through the hassle of creating a queen less cell starter nuc then?

 

[J.M.Learner]

This logic may not apply so well as I think but the same reason as some people use commercials rather than nationals or tangental to radial extraction... it just suits them better/ they prefer that method or have been shown it by their BKA

 

[Stickyfingers]

This logic may not apply so well as I think but the same reason as some people use commercials rather than nationals or tangental to radial extraction... it just suits them better/ they prefer that method or have been shown it by their BKA

Fair enough it just seems more logical to me.

Any issues with filling the upper box completely rather than part?

 

[Black Comb]

Well a queenless colony is almost certain to start cells with the queen removed (assuming open brood).

Point is the BH method works so no need to upset the colony.

Although it is called the Ben Harden method it is similar to that developed by Doolittle in the late 19th century.

 

[blackcavebees]

Although it is called the Ben Harden method it is similar to that developed by Doolittle in the late 19th century.

Kobo have Doolittle's book on this (sorry can't remember title) for free. Do a search on beekeeping and download, simples

 

[BeeJayBee]

Kobo have Doolittle's book on this (sorry can't remember title) for free. Do a search on beekeeping and download, simples

Download available as pdf, and other formats, from Cornell http://archive.org/details/cu31924003263724

 

[beekeeping4you]

Anyone tried this method?

http://www.bibba.com/john_harding_method.php

 

[betterbee]

tried the john harding method in 2011,excellent method,16 cell bar = 16 mated queens,weather was excellent when used,tried once because 16 queens was all i needed.

 

[beekeeping4you]

tried the john harding method in 2011,excellent method,16 cell bar = 16 mated queens,weather was excellent when used,tried once because 16 queens was all i needed.

I'm flabbergasted! That's a 100% mating success!

Regards
Reiner

 

[beebreeder]

When I was involved at our association apiary we had the same idea but full size hives and qx where the pipe is, the system does work as all the bees have to travel through the q/less section and cells were well provisioned, a gadget that works if you have the time, a full sized hive works just as well.
Its biggest problem was keeping the outer boxes balanced, the first year we had two different age queens and after a while one side was packed and the other side dwindled due to lack of queen substance from the older queen

 

[Teemore]

Well a queenless colony is almost certain to start cells with the queen removed (assuming open brood).

Point is the BH method works so no need to upset the colony.

Although it is called the Ben Harden method it is similar to that developed by Doolittle in the late 19th century.

Yes - Doolittle is attributed in the appendices to the article on Dave Cushman's website.

 

[Finman]

I'm flabbergasted! That's a 100% mating success!

Regards
Reiner

And sometimes 7%. Who knows what happens.

Mating has nothing to do with cell rearing method.

 

[beekeeping4you]

And sometimes 7%. Who knows what happens.

Mating has nothing to do with cell rearing method.

Over the years we had 30 - 80% mating success out of bigger batches of grafts and every year the next question was:
How many can be successfully introduced into nuclei or how many will be accepted when used to requeen existing colonies?

The final question is how many out of a batch will head a full colony after the first winter...

Some questions to be brought forward in "local queen breeding bee improvement" groups"?

Regards
Reiner

 

[DulwichGnome]

This year we are setting up couple of hives using the John Harding method. Keep you posted with progress and pics.

Mike.

 

[DanBee]

Have a look at Beebase here, and in particular the PDF linked at the bottom of the page. They use a similar method to that which is being described; I believe Ben saw this in operation and took it back to Ireland, adapting it with the large dummy blocks in the upper box for their less prolific bees / different weather conditions.

I use and teach this (NBU) method. It works, it requires fewer colonies than the formal queen mother/cell starter/cell finisher type of set-up, but you do need to be diligent with cycling brood and empty frames between upper and lower boxes. But then if diligence doesn't appeal, you're not going to be queen raising for long anyway

 

[Hivemaker.]

I use Q+ for raising cells, but like to have one or two supers in between the deep boxes, cells are removed to incubator five or six days after grafting, and another set of grafts given.

 

[J.M.Learner]

Mike Brown brought the method back from the states and they have been using it at the NBU since. At the time I believe the man credited was the apiary manager and worked with Mike. Apparently they adopted this method because using queenless hives can sometimes cause problems with laying workers, even when you cycle the frames for a refreshment of nurse bees. He said why use a queenless hive when a queen right method works just as well and gets rid of all the problems that queenless methods have with them... I've heard good things about the method and I wanna try it.