Queen Cell Incubator

[mbc]

A bit of damp rag is all I've ever used as a very technical humidity altering device.

 

[Swarm]

Thanks. How many cages can you get in taking into account the restricted internal space? I don't need loads of space but want something reliable for temperature and humidity.

Take a look at pictures of it and you will notice the cages are not Nicot roller type, they are sort of rectangular. There are bracers to fit that hold the cages but down the centre of the lid is the motor and a channel type set up that takes the humidity pad. The rollers are simply too tall and won't fit underneath but in two rows along each side I reckon you could fit maybe forty or perhaps a few more. The most I had on the go at any time was around a dozen so it's ideal for my needs.

 

[Swarm]

A bit of damp rag is all I've ever used as a very technical humidity altering device.

This has an LED display for temp and humdity. The temp is 35 and humidity (IIRC) hovered around 30 odd - 40 odd. It has a pump supplied that is intended to supply a trickle to the pad arrangement, I disconnected it and it made no odds.

 

[Black Mountain Honey]

Take a look at pictures of it and you will notice the cages are not Nicot roller type, they are sort of rectangular. There are bracers to fit that hold the cages but down the centre of the lid is the motor and a channel type set up that takes the humidity pad. The rollers are simply too tall and won't fit underneath but in two rows along each side I reckon you could fit maybe forty or perhaps a few more. The most I had on the go at any time was around a dozen so it's ideal for my needs.

Thanks. That's very helpful indeed

 

[0bee-1]

Thanks. That's very helpful indeed

will a review and update on how it performs appear on your Youtube channel?

 

[Black Mountain Honey]

I am definitely going to get one for queen cells this year but still doing a bit of research. There will definitely be a video once I get one though and run some cells through it.

 

[user 20917]

I bought one, but have no experience wiht it yet. What I like about it is that the temperature and the moisture remain the same.

 

[madasafish]

Tried my 4 egg one: temperature very stable. Easily adjustable.
Only trouble is height is insufficient for queen cages: stand by for more bodging...
(But I cannot complain for £10)

 

[Swarm]

You can see the obstruction from that photo, Nicot cages won't fit even if the foam pad inside is removed. Not a big problem as I found there was sufficient space either side.

 

[Sanntos]

Where to buy, at a reasonable price

 

[madasafish]

Where to buy, at a reasonable price

Facebook Market Place has some great deals - if local.
A permanent (saved) search on ebay emailing you will throw up some bargains.. BUT you need to act fast if Buy It Now .
Many of my cheap buys have been like that (Optivisor head magnifier + headlight at £30 vs new £80+)

But watch out for scams (mainly on cars. and phones)

 

[elainemary]

It's easier to check (of course) when they have emerged, and then you can mark her, and use the virgin directly in an small colony
It frees up space in the finishing colony, if you want to do several graftings
And if you ask me, a lot of running virgins in the same space, in one colony, that's a risk. Accidents can and will happen, sooner or later.
And also the temperature and humidity is controlled in the incubator, in the colony not always that much, and that can change the emerging time

Thankyou. I tried grafting for the first time last year. I did a couple of rounds of grafts: one via a queen right cloak board method and one using a queen less colony - I took a queen that I didn't like out. Both went sort of to plan, except in the queen less one, one of the cages came off. Aghhh! I presume due to the weight of bees around the cages. I then clumsily had to apply electrician tape around each cage to stop it happening again.

I subsequently found a virgin loose in the cell builder but I don't think she was from my grafting. Wrong colour (completely yellow and was smaller than other virgins I've seen), unless a recessive gene was showing in a future generation. I dispatched her as I suspected I'd missed an emergency cell when I took the original queen away.

So this is where my question has come from I can see the benefits of using an incubator, but I wondered about other pros and cons
Thanks for your reply

 

[elainemary]

What do you experienced queen raisers do with your queen less colonies once you've gone through multiple rounds of grafts? Do you simply unite or shake out?

Last year when I used a queen less colony as a cell builder, I had problems at the end uniting the queen less bees to another colony. They were definitely queen less (tried a test frame) and still had sealed brood, so no laying workers, but they would not accept a new queen. Even taking precautions such as uniting over newspaper, caging the queen on the comb etc.

 

[Black Mountain Honey]

Bit of Sunday night browsing

https://www.heka-brutgeraete.de/en/...cubators/HEKA-Queen-Bee-Incubator-Queeny.html

 

[mbc]

What do you experienced queen raisers do with your queen less colonies once you've gone through multiple rounds of grafts? Do you simply unite or shake out?

Last year when I used a queen less colony as a cell builder, I had problems at the end uniting the queen less bees to another colony. They were definitely queen less (tried a test frame) and still had sealed brood, so no laying workers, but they would not accept a new queen. Even taking precautions such as uniting over newspaper, caging the queen on the comb etc.

I like to run double broods with cloak boards for cell raising, the bottom half almost invariably has some sort of queen problem by the end of the season, I just retire them from the queen rearing and leave them with a cell when this happens, usually making use of most of the frames and bees for nucs.

 

[Swarm]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/in32xi0xmwr4l4u/damaged cell success.mp4?dl=0This gives you some idea of the incubator.

 

[elainemary]

I like to run double broods with cloak boards for cell raising, the bottom half almost invariably has some sort of queen problem by the end of the season, I just retire them from the queen rearing and leave them with a cell when this happens, usually making use of most of the frames and bees for nucs.

I like to run double broods with cloak boards for cell raising, the bottom half almost invariably has some sort of queen problem by the end of the season, I just retire them from the queen rearing and leave them with a cell when this happens, usually making use of most of the frames and bees for nucs.

That’s good advice thankyou. That’s what I did with the queenless cell raiser, I was so miffed they’d killed 2 lovely queens that I told them “you’re on your own now sort yourselves out”. They did, made a new queen from the emergency cells of the last queen They killed after I united them to. Little tinkers let her lay for a couple of weeks before they balled her. Was getting later in the season so I was worried there wasn’t time for any new queen from the emergency cells to get mated but last inspection I did at end September, saw 3 brood frames with sealed worker brood Haven’t seen her yet as it wa a fleeting look to see if I could see any brood. I’m far more chilled now about seeing the queen or not. Will find out in spring if she got properly mated. Her mother was a nice queen and her grandmother too, so fingers crossed.

 

[elainemary]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/in32xi0xmwr4l4u/damaged cell success.mp4?dl=0This gives you some idea of the incubator.

Thanks the virgin in the cage is a nice size for a virgin. Aw. I must say having tried raising queens last year using roller cages I definitely prefer to see virgins after emerging rather than trust the cells. You can check her wings and legs, in fact my friend who uses an incubator even weighs them using a very precise weighing scale, that’s a good idea isn’t it! Then she keeps the biggest queens and gives the smaller ones away as they can still make a nice colony for a beginner and they can have a go at getting them mated too. Love seeing new queens, I think I’m really going to get into queen rearing

 

[elainemary]

Facebook Market Place has some great deals - if local.
A permanent (saved) search on ebay emailing you will throw up some bargains.. BUT you need to act fast if Buy It Now .
Many of my cheap buys have been like that (Optivisor head magnifier + headlight at £30 vs new £80+)

But watch out for scams (mainly on cars. and phones)

Agree re scams on eBay. Bought hubby some Dr Dre earphones, cheaper than other sites. Cheeky seller even sent me a message to say there was a delay as his colleague had inadvertently put the wrong postcode on the package. Complained to eBay and they refunded me quickly.

 

[elainemary]

Hi, I thought I had struck gold too with the 60v euro one, a scam. Got one just before Brexit for 199.00 Pounds from the English site Incubator shop. They can be hard to get, Sold out very frequently.
https://www.theincubatorshop.co.uk/products/details/rcom-bee-70-incubator.html

I watched this one on their site last year as I thought it looked just the right size for an amateur like me. Wasn’t available as soon you got into the beekeeping season. And it’s v pricey.