Queen Resring

[Tom Bick]

A question for our more advanced queen reared amongst us.

I will be having ago at this year's grafting and queen rearing this weekend and as I happened to AS a strong hive last week I will use this for the cell raiser after removing the queen cells but the hive I want to use to graft from is about 25 mins down the road in a different apiary. So I was wondering is it ok to remove the frame from the hive move it to the apiary with the cell raiser do the grafts and then place in the cell raiser or would the delay be a risk to the small larvae.

I do have a very good queen next to the cell raiser one of hivemakers Buckfast queens and could use this hive but the queen down the road a local lass has been my best queen this year and favour her.

Oops this phone it's Rearing

 

[B+.]

is it ok to remove the frame from the hive move it to the apiary with the cell raiser do the grafts and then place in the cell raiser or would the delay be a risk to the small larvae.

I do have a very good queen next to the cell raiser one of hivemakers Buckfast queens and could use this hive but the queen down the road a local lass has been my best queen this year and favour her.

You might get away with it but there are a few things you should bear in mind
1. The temperature should be maintained around 35degrees C. 50% humidity. A warm moist towel in the base of a polystyrene box would do it. I use a portable incubator
2. Larvae which are destined to become potential queens are fed continuously by nurse bees. A short break in feeding wouldn't be too catastrophic but you need to have the nurse colony ready to receive the grafts.

 

[Tom Bick]

Thanks and something to think about.

I have a box and lid that can carry one frame and bees if you want to but mostly designed just to move frames between apiaries without risk of damage to the comb. I could use that, make sure its nice and warm and even keep the bees on the comb and shake them out in front of a hive or into a super.

May be better to play safe as I suspect my grafting may take a few mins longer than a more experienced hand and perhaps better not to over complicate.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Just wrap the frame in a towel for the journey, or aternatively just bring back a frame containing mostly eggs, and place in your home colony until the eggs turn to larvae ready for grafting, eggs can be out of a colony for ages, in fact they have even been sent in the post and remained viable.

 

[Tom Bick]

That's cleaver Pete but my only worry over that is I have found when doing test frames I have noticed that eggs are often removed. I have moved test frames over longer distances than this and the brood does survive but must damage some. I think your lovely queen is looking like the easier route and would save on a bit of running about.

 

[Hivemaker.]

That's cleaver Pete but my only worry over that is I have found when doing test frames I have noticed that eggs are often removed.

You won't be using it as a test frame will you? Never had eggs removed when placing the frame in the middle of the brood nest of a colony with a laying queen, frames of eggs sometimes transported from over eighty miles away with no problems.

 

[B+.]

frames of eggs sometimes transported from over eighty miles away with no problems.

wrapped in a towel? I use a Carricell (http://www.carricell.com) plugged into the cigarette lighter

 

[Hivemaker.]

wrapped in a towel?

Yes, wrapped in a towel.

 

[fatshark]

Tom, I regularly graft in one apiary and transport the grafted larvae to a cell raiser elsewhere, or move larvae in the frame to another apiary for grafting. As Pete says, a warm slightly damp towel or kitchen paper wrapped round the frame works just fine. A pre-warmed 'freezer block' slid down the side of the grafts/frame may help, but not needed with the current temperatures.

 

[Tom Bick]

You won't be using it as a test frame will you? Never had eggs removed when placing the frame in the middle of the brood nest of a colony with a laying queen, frames of eggs sometimes transported from over eighty miles away with no problems.

Done it a could of times Pete test frame placed in hive full of eggs and open brood when checked some days later empty cells where the eggs were. Obviously if I do as you suggest it won't be a test frame. Perhaps I will do a test to look closely once more to see if the eggs are removed. Are you suggesting a Q- hive may remove eggs and a Q+ will keep them? Cheers.

 

[Tom Bick]

Tom, I regularly graft in one apiary and transport the grafted larvae to a cell raiser elsewhere, or move larvae in the frame to another apiary for grafting. As Pete says, a warm slightly damp towel or kitchen paper wrapped round the frame works just fine. A pre-warmed 'freezer block' slid down the side of the grafts/frame may help, but not needed with the current temperatures.

Cheers very helpful and I have done the damp warm towel in the past moved a frame once some forty five minutes down the motorway to help someone out and they raised a queen cell so I know moving frames some distance is possible but don't know if a percentage of the larvae are damaged especially the very young and don't want to be unlucky and pick the ones that have been damaged.