Best way to increase from healthiest colonies

[RoofTops]

I'd forgotton about that one. Youy get a slightly bigger image by following this link and clicking the Flash Player version. It may not work if you don't have flash installed.
http://www.iwf.de/iwf/do/mkat/detai...4C863103000000&Action=Schnell&SearchStr=queen bee breeding

 

[Hivemaker.]

Great share, thanks...

Lots more vidios in this sticky link,including the above links and a few more on queen rearing.


http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=493

 

[mbc]

I'd say the greatest restriction to increase from 6 to 15/20 colonies in a season would be lack of drawn comb. The suggestion to keep your good colonies on double brood would help alleviate this, in fact if I was planning such rapid increase I think I'd have feeders on continuously and keep adding brood box's as the frames get drawn out , giving a ready supply of bees and brood to use for making up nuc's as soon as new mated queens are ready.
As for how to get 15 -20 mated queens I'd go along with the grafting and mini nuc suggestions and use either a Cloak board or a swarm box/ queenright cell finisher for raising the cells

 

[Appledown]

Thanks to everybody for advice and links. I can see this is going to be a learning experience! Looking up 'cloak board' I found what seems to be a useful illustration of the principles of grafting to starter cups (this might be US terminology) at: http://uk.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A03uv8...w.westsoundbees.org/newsletters/June_2009.pdf

mbc, you say "giving a ready supply of bees and brood to use for making up nuc's as soon as new mated queens are ready." I'd imagined placing the mature queen cells in the newly made-up nucs, along with emerging brood, pollen, stores and house bees, and allowing them to mate naturally from there. Was your statement (as above) based on the idea of some sort of controlled mating? Or were you thinking they'd mate freely from mini-nucs, and then go to ordinary nucs to build up before graduating to a full-size hive?

The way it seems to be coming together in my mind is: graft day-old larvae from selected colonies into (15-20) queen cups and place in previously queen-separated nursury hive until capped. Then shift each queen cell into either a mini nuc or ordinary 5-frame nuc with supplies & house bees to mate and establish. (A mini-nuc system would need a source of drawn and pre-loaded comb?)

Is that a reasonable outline?

I think the lack of drawn comb might indeed be a limiting factor, and so the system that can best work around this will be best for me.

Roger

 

[mbc]

"mbc, you say "giving a ready supply of bees and brood to use for making up nuc's as soon as new mated queens are ready." I'd imagined placing the mature queen cells in the newly made-up nucs, along with emerging brood, pollen, stores and house bees, and allowing them to mate naturally from there. Was your statement (as above) based on the idea of some sort of controlled mating? Or were you thinking they'd mate freely from mini-nucs, and then go to ordinary nucs to build up before graduating to a full-size hive? "

Roger.
You seem to want to expand quickly and as previously mentioned , one of the things which will hold you back the most is lack of drawn combs, brood frames and bees to cover them. The beauty of mating queens in mini nucs is that they don't tax your other colonies too much, and the extra three weeks in the middle of the season when your strong hives are as strong as possible will help you increase quicker. Bees breed bees and you'll find that a good strong five frame nuc will build up much, much quicker than a little nuc with only one or two frames and a queen cell. A strong colony on double or even treble brood will have no difficulty drawing out brood frames and breeding more bees which you can hopefully split to make nucs before they attempt to swarm whereas, if you weaken them earlier by making up mating nucs from them they will take longer to recover and possibly struggle to draw out foundation. Hope this gives you some food for thought

 

[Poly Hive]

Thanks to everybody for advice and links. I can see this is going to be a learning experience! Looking up 'cloak board' I found what seems to be a useful illustration of the principles of grafting to starter cups (this might be US terminology) at: http://uk.wrs.yahoo.com/_ylt=A03uv8...w.westsoundbees.org/newsletters/June_2009.pdf

The way it seems to be coming together in my mind is: graft day-old larvae from selected colonies into (15-20) queen cups and place in previously queen-separated nursury hive until capped. Then shift each queen cell into either a mini nuc or ordinary 5-frame nuc with supplies & house bees to mate and establish. (A mini-nuc system would need a source of drawn and pre-loaded comb?)

Is that a reasonable outline?

Reasonable yes but not practical. There is no slack in there for failure, and failures there will be.

The major factor that never seems to be discussed when grafting and so on are discussed is our old friend Mother Nature.

I once grafted every day for two weeks and got nothing, it was cold wet and raining. the first day the weather changed I had 32 accpeptances from 36, something I have never got near since.

When discussing queen rearing, it is not an arithmetical model where one and one makes two, some times it does but................that assumes the one actually exists. Just a wee heads up.

PH

 

[Appledown]

Is that a reasonable outline?

Reasonable yes but not practical. There is no slack in there for failure, and failures there will be.
PH

Thanks PH. Yes, I'd sort of built in a good deal of uncertainty as a given. If I can get 10 or 20 new colonies next year from my two or three best, plus a few collected swarms and bought-in queens, I'll be very happy indeed. That will give me maybe 30 colonies to go into the following winter, and with luck perhaps 25-50% will come through strong without treatment. Then same again, with more to select from by then, and more varied blood too.

Roger

 

[Poly Hive]

Hae a look at the Queen rearing forum. Something there for you to laugh at.

PH