Cell punching

[elainemary]

Decided to go for cell punching rather than grafting this year

Put an old comb (pupal skins make the cells more rigid and easier to handle) into my breeder queen hive last Sunday. 5 days later (today) some nice 1 day old larva, just changing from eggs, perfect age.

Warmed up my cell punch and selected v young larva and inserted the punches onto my cell bar. These went into my queenless cell builder.

A twist in the tale is last Sunday when I put the queen in the large cage to lay up my cell punch frame, I had to swarm control her - 3 swarm cells in her colony, so I placed her in a box above a Horsely board with the parent colony and supers below it, to make a perfect queenless cell raiser below the board. Took all swarm and emergency cells down today, before inserting the cell punch bar.

Will check progress in a few days Hopefully the bees will have fed the cells then I can cage them when sealed. Plan to leave one cell in the hive to make a new queen then will put my breeder queen into a Nuc for a rest

 

[Erichalfbee]

Can’t comment on your method as I’m a lazy beekeeper and get somebody else to rear my queens but a little bird tells me you’re hiding your queen rearing light under a bushel. Well done

 

[elainemary]

Can’t comment on your method as I’m a lazy beekeeper and get somebody else to rear my queens but a little bird tells me you’re hiding your queen rearing light under a bushel. Well done

I'm hoping to improve and practise more this year. I've been in touch with B+ & meeting him next month for a bee breeding / grafting session. Really looking forward to it & he's kindly offered to give me some larva / cell to take away. Want to introduce some new genetics. Thanks to this forum( & you) for helping me to find B+ & for his help & coaching

 

[Erichalfbee]

Quite a few of us miss him. I'm glad you are in touch.

 

[Antipodes]

Quite a few of us miss him. I'm glad you are in touch.

Yes...it was great to have his expertise here.

 

[Swift Nick]

Decided to go for cell punching rather than grafting this year

Good luck with the cell punching, please let us know how many takes you get on the punched cells. I have made a set of cell punches, as shown in Roger Patterson’s book. But I am trying grafting first.
Just for info, the book recommends trimming back the part of the cell that protrudes from cup, or making some small cuts and folding the protrusion back. It saves the bees having to tear down that wall before making the bigger cell, especially on old comb with cocoons which can be tough.

 

[elainemary]

Good luck with the cell punching, please let us know how many takes you get on the punched cells. I have made a set of cell punches, as shown in Roger Patterson’s book. But I am trying grafting first.
Just for info, the book recommends trimming back the part of the cell that protrudes from cup, or making some small cuts and folding the protrusion back. It saves the bees having to tear down that wall before making the bigger cell, especially on old comb with cocoons which can be tough.

Thanks for that, I tried that with the first cell but was tricky without damaging the cell, even though I chose a comb for my breeder to lay in that had strong cocoons. Also takes a bit of extra time and wanted the larva back in the hive as soon as I could. In the end I used a small round stick to make sure the opening was as round as possible so a bee could have access to the larva.

I tried grafting last year, got 7/10 but I like the idea of cell punching and being able to choose a v small larva intact without damaging / rolling it. Hope it has worked and the bees can get at them!

Been dashing round my out apiaries today so haven’t had chance to check if the cells have been fed. Weather not great next few days, but will keep you posted!

 

[E&MBees]

Thanks for that, I tried that with the first cell but was tricky without damaging the cell, even though I chose a comb for my breeder to lay in that had strong cocoons. Also takes a bit of extra time and wanted the larva back in the hive as soon as I could. In the end I used a small round stick to make sure the opening was as round as possible so a bee could have access to the larva.

I tried grafting last year, got 7/10 but I like the idea of cell punching and being able to choose a v small larva intact without damaging / rolling it. Hope it has worked and the bees can get at them!

Been dashing round my out apiaries today so haven’t had chance to check if the cells have been fed. Weather not great next few days, but will keep you posted!

Good luck! Would love to be able to raise my own queens once I am more experienced.

 

[elainemary]

Good luck! Would love to be able to raise my own queens once I am more experienced.

I started in my second year of beekeeping. Tried putting naturally produced queen cells from swarm control into Apideas. Then attended some courses run by our regional association. I tried grafting and cell punching the next year and 3 frame mating Nucs. It’s not difficult. Only way to become experienced (& I wouldn’t call myself that) is to give it a go. Can’t see how else you can become more experienced to make a start, than you already are

I’d recommend the Queen rearing booklet / special edition from BBKA . Costs £8 available from their online shop, plus asking questions if you get stuck on here. Plus checking whether your local association does any hands on queen rearing training, or just asking experienced beekeepers locally, if you can visit them to show you what they do.

Start this season, there’s still time! It’s one if the most rewarding aspects of beekeeping

 

[E&MBees]

I started in my second year of beekeeping. Tried putting naturally produced queen cells from swarm control into Apideas. Then attended some courses run by our regional association. I tried grafting and cell punching the next year and 3 frame mating Nucs. It’s not difficult. Only way to become experienced (& I wouldn’t call myself that) is to give it a go. Can’t see how else you can become more experienced to make a start, than you already are

I’d recommend the Queen rearing booklet / special edition from BBKA . Costs £8 available from their online shop, plus asking questions if you get stuck on here. Plus checking whether your local association does any hands on queen rearing training, or just asking experienced beekeepers locally, if you can visit them to show you what they do.

Start this season, there’s still time! It’s one if the most rewarding aspects of beekeeping

Thank you Elaine. My local association doesn’t really do much training so I will have to glean as much information as possible from here and books. It’s definitely something to explore.

 

[elainemary]

Thank you Elaine. My local association doesn’t really do much training so I will have to glean as much information as possible from here and books. It’s definitely something to explore.

Or join Bibba, I noticed on their site they have plans to do some small group queen rearing but haven’t advertised where or when yet. Bibba is not expensive to join

 

[polymath]

Thanks for that, I tried that with the first cell but was tricky without damaging the cell, even though I chose a comb for my breeder to lay in that had strong cocoons. Also takes a bit of extra time and wanted the larva back in the hive as soon as I could. In the end I used a small round stick to make sure the opening was as round as possible so a bee could have access to the larva.

I tried grafting last year, got 7/10 but I like the idea of cell punching and being able to choose a v small larva intact without damaging / rolling it. Hope it has worked and the bees can get at them!

Been dashing round my out apiaries today so haven’t had chance to check if the cells have been fed. Weather not great next few days, but will keep you posted!

where are you based i had Roger come and do a cell punching course, we combined it with two divisions to have enough people. I was also lucky enough to do some of the photography for his book so saw him in action a lot.

 

[elainemary]

where are you based i had Roger come and do a cell punching course, we combined it with two divisions to have enough people. I was also lucky enough to do some of the photography for his book so saw him in action a lot.

West Yorkshire. I arranged for Roger to come up and give a queen rearing demo and a day course. I was in year 2 as a beekeeper so made a big impact. I then learnt how to use another type of cell punch that you can buy off the shelf - Thornes sell them. However the person that makes them is a member of one of the associations in Yorkshire and she gave a demo and I bought a cell punch direct. I put the punches onto a cell bar but she did it using wax strips and cups. She didn’t bother cutting the cell back, as you’ve said Roger does it differently.

Here’s some pics for interest. Hope your cell punching goes well! Keep us posted

 

[polymath]

West Yorkshire. I arranged for Roger to come up and give a queen rearing demo and a day course. I was in year 2 as a beekeeper so made a big impact. I then learnt how to use another type of cell punch that you can buy off the shelf - Thornes sell them. However the person that makes them is a member of one of the associations in Yorkshire and she gave a demo and I bought a cell punch direct. I put the punches onto a cell bar but she did it using wax strips and cups. She didn’t bother cutting the cell back, as you’ve said Roger does it differently.

Here’s some pics for interest. Hope your cell punching goes well! Keep us posted

Here are my instructions for making a cell punch.

 

[elainemary]

Here are my instructions for making a cell punch.

Thanks for sharing David. A lot of work and skill has gone into your set up.

 

[Swift Nick]

I’d recommend the Queen rearing booklet / special edition from BBKA .

I purchased this booklet on Sunday, arrived yesterday, it is really good for starting queen rearing, a lot of information in one place, and a straightforward manner. Thank you for recommending .

 

[polymath]

I purchased this booklet on Sunday, arrived yesterday, it is really good for starting queen rearing, a lot of information in one place, and a straightforward manner. Thank you for recommending .

As i have not purchased does it recommend cover cell punching. My gut feel is not as the BBKA is blinkered against cell punching for some reason and likes grafting or miller etc. Do tell does it cover off anything on cell punching.

 

[Swift Nick]

As i have not purchased does it recommend cover cell punching. My gut feel is not as the BBKA is blinkered against cell punching for some reason and likes grafting or miller etc. Do tell does it cover off anything on cell punching.

It doesn’t, I have attached an image of the index. The Cushman site or Patterson book is probably the place to go for cell punching.