Making a hive Q minus for queen rearing

[Swift Nick]

I want to raise about 4 to 5 queens from one of my queens. I have 4 full colonies and 2 nucs, I want to make a colony temporarily Q minus to get the emergency response. Is it possible to do this and then when the sealed cells are placed in Apeda’s put the queen back in to the temporary cell raising colony, so that the colony continues to build whilst the virgins mate and get ready to lay.
The objective is minimum queenlessness for the cell raising colony.
If it’s worthwhile, where would the queen go, into a nuc or could you bank her in a super?
Upto now I have raised queens from splits or swarm cells, but I wanted a more organised way, with minimum colony disruption.

 

[Ian123]

A simple method and there is a particular name I just can’t remember what it is atm!….leaving the queen in a new brood on the frame you find her..place a qx then a couple of supers and another qx and or crown board then sit old brood with all remaining bees/frames…the top box becomes your rearing unit. The bees have minimal contact with the queen so will raise cells, it’s actually better to graft though! For a small number of good cells this is an ok method and keeps the unit together. Once cells are capped you can use frames in the top box for making up a few nucs if you like. Am sure another will be along shortly with the correct term/method so you can research in detail!

 

[JamezF]

A simple method and there is a particular name I just can’t remember what it is atm!….leaving the queen in a new brood on the frame you find her..place a qx then a couple of supers and another qx and or crown board then sit old brood with all remaining bees/frames…the top box becomes your rearing unit.

Demarree?

James

 

[jeff33]

Yes, you can use the demaree set-up, that's how I do it with the JBM demaree board. You must set it up 9 days before you graft to make sure they have no other larvae they can use. I usually add a few frames of nearly emerging brood from other hives.

On grafting day, you can block the access between the 2 hives (not the top entrance) and either add your graft if you are grafting or a frame of 12h larvae from your selected queen. You can do a notch with your tool under the cells of the right age which will help the bees draw cells straighter. It will also be easier to cut them off to add to your mating nucs

I re-open the access on the board 48h after and leave them like that until cells are capped.

For 4-5 queens you will need around 10 queen cells.

 

[Swift Nick]

Hi Jeff, do you know if there is a post on the forum for the JBM board, sounds like a good way to go. Also any more detail on the technique? Or is just as a demaree, but with a board in the middle instead of supers? Thanks.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hi Jeff, do you know if there is a post on the forum for the JBM board, sounds like a good way to go. Also any more detail on the technique? Or is just as a demaree, but with a board in the middle instead of supers? Thanks.

Can't find it but basically it's a crown board with a small square of QX
Perhaps @jenkinsbrynmair might pop a photo on

 

[Ian123]

Hi Jeff, do you know if there is a post on the forum for the JBM board, sounds like a good way to go. Also any more detail on the technique? Or is just as a demaree, but with a board in the middle instead of supers? Thanks.

Ideally you want the board and a super or 2, the more separation the better.

 

[Swift Nick]

Can't find it but basically it's a crown board with a small square of QX
Perhaps @jenkinsbrynmair might pop a photo on

Thank you, if anyone can advise the approx size of the QX, I am imagining 2” x 2” ?

 

[jeff33]

Thank you, if anyone can advise the approx size of the QX, I am imagining 2” x 2” ?

I usually do mine 4 X 3 ish. As Ian says, the set up is BB with queen, Qx, 2 supers, demaree board, top BB with all capped brood left for a minimum of 8 days before you introduce young larvae. If you leave them to it with a frame of young larvae they will make only 1 or 2 cells. That's why you want to block the access so they think they are Q- and will draw a lot more cells. I usually leave it blocked 48h max.

 

[Swift Nick]

Thanks Jeff, I have a colony perfect for this, I will give it a go.