Ben Harden queen rearing.

[biglongdarren]

This past few years i have been grafting into a queenless hive and let all the queens hatch out into the hair roller cages, this year i have tried the Ben Harden way with a queen right colony, can i let the queens hatch into the cages or do they have to be removed before they hatch?
can't seem to find the answer to this anywhere.
Darren

 

[itma]

I don't see any reason for any difference in your handling of QCs after sealing. If your normal practice is to let the virgins emerge into the hair roller cages, then I don't see that changing the 'cell-raising' method need cause you to change the final rearing stage.


FWIW, Cushman harvested the cells just before emergence - but I haven't seen any suggestion that this was necessary.
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/benhardenmethod.html

I'm intending to have a go ("real soon now" ie mañana) with this method - using Kingspan/Celotex in place of the "fat dummy boards".

 

[fatshark]

itma is right … whatever floats your boat. I use the BH system for most of my queen rearing. I usually move the sealed cells either to an incubator (and add more grafts) or - a day or so before emergence - to mini-nucs. However, before now I've got the timing wrong or forgotten and come back to a row of emerged virgins in the hair rollers. Not a problem.

 

[masterBK]

As a GH assessor I see lots of peoples attempts at queen rearing and I think you get more success ie more grafts accepted and converted into Q larvae if you use cloake board system rather than Ben Harden method as in the former there is a brief period of queenlessness when board in before being returned to being queenright by removing the board.

 

[Teemore]

Queen right Q rearing is very weather and nectar flow dependant. I get much better results (100% currently) from using a cloake board or a q- colony in swarm mode.

 

[biglongdarren]

9 out of the 12 grafts have taken, well pleased and will be doing it this way from now on.
Darren