# Anyone raising/graphing their own queens?



## irishstars (Jan 30, 2004)

We did it! This afternoon I graphed 24 tiny larvae into homemade queen cells. The the frame was put into a queenless nuc box that had honey and some brood, and bees. Here's praying we're sucessful. I understand that the commercial queen rearers have a 25-60% sucess rate. Time will tell what we get. Anyone else rear their own queens for splits, etc.? Barb


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## zathrus (May 12, 2004)

irishstars said:


> We did it! This afternoon I graphed 24 tiny larvae into homemade queen cells. The the frame was put into a queenless nuc box that had honey and some brood, and bees. Here's praying we're sucessful. I understand that the commercial queen rearers have a 25-60% sucess rate. Time will tell what we get. Anyone else rear their own queens for splits, etc.? Barb


Hi Barb,

I've never done it or learned much about it. Let us know how it turns out. I'd like to know of any good books on the subject. I've checked Amazon.com, but found only a few, and many had never been reviewed, so it's hard to say if they are any good. What did you do to prepare for this venture? Did you take a class, study some books, get training from another beekeeper? Are you raising them for your own use, or do you plan on going into business doing this? Inquiring minds want to know. Best of luck! 

Sean


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## irishstars (Jan 30, 2004)

Hi Sean,

Dh raised bees in Sioux City, IA in '70s with his hs bio teacher, but no queens. We are starting a pollination business, but off to a slow start as bees, nucs and packages were very hard to find in this part of NC. Also weather has set back the honey flow by at least 1-2 weeks. We both have taken the first course through the NCS beekeepers assoc., but that barely covered queens. Since re-queening for commercial people gets expensive and I have 2 hives needing to split and queens are hard to find right now, we decided to experiment. Highly recommend Queen Reaing and Bee Breeding by Harry Laidlaw Jr. and Robert E. Page, Jr. They have a practical, but thorough book.
Will update as we progress. Hopefully we will have some sucess. Where in IA are you? We have lived in SC, IA and in Quimby, near Cherokee.
Barb


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

How did you make the queen cells?

Enquiring monds want to know!


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## zathrus (May 12, 2004)

Hi Barb,

Thanks for the response.




irishstars said:


> Hi Sean,
> 
> Dh raised bees in Sioux City, IA in '70s with his hs bio teacher, but no queens. We are starting a pollination business, but off to a slow start as bees, nucs and packages were very hard to find in this part of NC. Also weather has set back the honey flow by at least 1-2 weeks.
> 
> ...


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