Preference - technique for mating a queen

[Rosti]

Background: This will be the first year that I venture into queen rearing. I am not going to go the full hog (grafting, incubating and the like), simply demaree and then isolate and see if I can manage swarming as normal but also raise some queens from my favourite colony.

So my question relates to mating:
Given the route I am taking would you

a) leave a second opening on the top BB with QE between the BBs and leave them to it

b) transfer to a maiting hive and then re-introduce when mated

If your choice is b) then do you prefer i) Apidea or ii) Wornholz

Of course if I get more than one sealed cell to maturity then I'll have to remove the excess in which case revert to i) or ii) for the extra's

Thanks all. R

 

[Poly Hive]

Have you any nuc boxes? If so keep it very simple and make up a two or three frame nuc with a good cell and off you go.

PH

 

[Rosti]

Thanks, PH, I have but they are 5 frame 14x12's. I was worried that I woukld deplete my donar hive too much given the point of the demaree was to keep critical mass in the 'donor' colony as high as possible. the idea of a cup of bees from the demareed box apealed for that reason. Thoughts?

 

[fatshark]

I'm with PH on this one. Last year I fed them up onto a double brood box, divided them in two (with a solid floor as I didn't have a spare roof) and then let them get on with it. However, the inspections of the stacked boxes were a real pain. Going through the top one was easy (much better height for starters) but going through the bottom one meant a build-up of foragers in mid-air searching for the upper entrance!

Nuc boxes are much easier to handle. You can even fit dividers into a standard brood box to keep three three-frame nucs under the same roof.

--
fatshark

 

[Rosti]

Nuc boxes are much easier to handle. You can even fit dividers into a standard brood box to keep three three-frame nucs under the same roof.

--
fatshark

Yes, you are right, dummy boards in my 5 frames to cut down to 3 hadn't even entered the radar! and it saves me £40 on 2 x Apideas

 

[Onge]

Just use 2 or 3 frames and a dummy board. If you have the spare boxes.

 

[Poly Hive]

Yes well but...

The devil is aye in the detail.

Multiple units under one roof have a nasty habit of besoming one unit under one roof.

Just so you are aware.

Put it this way, I could do it but don't.

I use standard Nat nucs or standard Langstroth nucs and if I am producing a few queens then I use my mini nucs.

PH

 

[Rosti]

and if I am producing a few queens then I use my mini nucs. PH

What type PH?

 

[Hombre]

PH, Am I correct in my belief, that the smaller colony increases the mating imperative, as long as the volume is not too large to be economically kept warm?

I have also read that two or more nucs under one roof tend to become unbalanced and the stronger queen ends up with a large part of the total bees..

 

[Poly Hive]

Yes and yes.

My mini nucs are not available these days I fear. produced by:

Friedrich Wienold

Great little units and some of them are now at least 20 years old...

PH

 

[Hombre]

I'm thinking of rearing a small amount of queens this year with a view to having mated queens when I need them - easier said than done.

How many queens do you rear each year and do you ever rear them to sell?

I'm looking to avoid having standard nucs with virgin queens running down awaiting mating. Mating mini nucs might be the solution for me.