# Queen Rearing



## Me Beekeeper (Jan 6, 2009)

I'm a sideliner and re-queen with about a dozen new queens a year. I buy a few each year from another beekeeper to keep a good diversity in my bees. However, when I raise my queens, I use a different method almost every year. I was wondering what methods other beekeepers use for creating a couple dozen queens. Thanks


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

No matter how many "Find the queen" websites I go to to practice, I have trouble finding the queen. I find her perhaps 1 time out of 4?

I am afraid that I raise new queens by splitting the hive, and having eggs or tiny grubs in each split. EGGS, I can FIND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Very soon I know which split has the queen!

If the splits are too small, then in the fall I will TRY to find the old queen, and do a newspaper combine. I ASSUME the young strong queen will win the fight!


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I use the Cooper queen rearing method rather than grafting. I raise about 45 new queens a year that way.

 Al


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## Me Beekeeper (Jan 6, 2009)

alleyyooper said:


> I use the Cooper queen rearing method rather than grafting. I raise about 45 new queens a year that way.
> 
> Al


And briefly described, what method is the Cooper queen method?


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Me Beekeeper said:


> And briefly described, what method is the Cooper queen method?


Yes, a google pulled up nothing: what IS the Cooper method?


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## Me Beekeeper (Jan 6, 2009)

alleyyooper said:


> I use the Cooper queen rearing method rather than grafting. I raise about 45 new queens a year that way.
> 
> Al


:goodjob: Alley, could this be the method where you take a brood frame with eggs and less then 3 day old larvae and set it on spacers above the queenless brood chamber filled with nurse bees, sealed brood, honey and pollen? Then the nurse bees draw the queen cells down from the side of the brood frame towards the brood chamber (in the area created from the spacers). I once read of this used in Australia. The article mentioned that he once got 68 queen cells from the single frame. I didn't know it by name.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

The cooper method was from Australia as I know it.
Many here in the USA call it the cell punch method.
Much easier than grafting if you have old eyes trying to spoon out a tiny 2-3 day old larva.

 Al


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## Me Beekeeper (Jan 6, 2009)

Thanks Al,

Perhaps, I'll look into it and give it a try this season. It's always good to try and see if there isn't an easer way to do things with the same of better results.


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## Michael Bush (Oct 26, 2008)

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearingmethods.htm


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## Me Beekeeper (Jan 6, 2009)

Michael Bush said:


> http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm
> http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearingmethods.htm


Thanks Mike,
:sing: I use your website allot. It's one of the more complete, with simple to understand information found on the web. I like the history found in the different topics too. I use it as a reference quite often. As soon as Al mentioned the Cooper method, I went to your site to investigate. 
Thanks again Mike :rock:


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## Durandal (Aug 19, 2007)

I have four of these now. Every time I find a queen cell this spring I am hoping to make use of it.

Transfer 2 frames. Wait. Check for laying 30 days later (give or take). Transfer to nuc. Repeat.

That's my goal at least. The theory always seems a bit more sound than the experience...usually as a result of my own failings. 

Edit: Some more pics

Covers. I am changing these to fit pint jars.









Deep Nucs - The first batch using old deeps.









Queen Cell


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## Me Beekeeper (Jan 6, 2009)

Hi Richard,

Yes, that sounds interesting. How many queens do you hope to get through the season using this method? :typomat: How long a season do you have to create queens? Do you think you could get 30?


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## Durandal (Aug 19, 2007)

Hey Alley, what happened to all the posts you made with the pictures of your nucs and queen building boxes?


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## Durandal (Aug 19, 2007)

Me Beekeeper said:


> Hi Richard,
> 
> Yes, that sounds interesting. How many queens do you hope to get through the season using this method? :typomat: How long a season do you have to create queens? Do you think you could get 30?


I have enough to do a total of 16 2-frame queen raising divisions. It depends on how many supercedure/swarm cells I get. I am also going to play around with making late splits as well as cutting comb to entice queen cell building.

With a total of 12 colonies last year I think I probably wasted 30 cells all together. I have enough equipment now to go into winter with 40 to 60 colonies plus nucs, so the sky is the limit. My fear though is that I will not even come close to it and fail. I've learned a lot over the past year and I am ready to dive in head first and see if I can put what I learned, hands on, into practice with the increased resources I have now.

As to 30 queens....

Can they do it? Yes. Will they do it? Maybe. Can I do it? We'll see. 

Not too sure that answers your question...exactly.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

For some reason all the post I made on this forum that day are gone.

 Al


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## Durandal (Aug 19, 2007)

Ahhhh technology...

Do you mind reposting them?


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

The double nuc box from a single deep. The second batch I made had some changes. I ran a 1/8" wide groove on each box end so the divider board didn't slide around. I also added a sort of top bar to the divider board to better seal the compartments from each other.









The double nuc screen bottom board. Also did some changes in it. the center rest/divider is now wider and has a 1/4" groove also to help keep the divider board in place. The front entrance has been opened up to except a board man feeder and the rear opening closed to make a smaller easier defended entrance. Also easier to close when I want to move them.


















The inter covers are roughly a normal intercover cut in half and a couple of screened vent holes in them. No changes made to them.










The finished nucs.










I still like my single nucs best as the mated queen return rate is 98% acording to our records compaired to 83% for the double nucs. 










Our rate of mated queens also went up when I sat the nucs near trees, shrubs and other large objects. I feel it helps the queen leaving on a mateing flight have some way points in her GPS system.

I also set the mateing nucs out near yards where I load the hives with drones with the use of drone comb. Idea is to have diserable drones mate with the queens of slected colonies.
These drone produceing colonies we don't expect much honey production from. 

 Al


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## Durandal (Aug 19, 2007)

Alley

Do run a dado down the middle of the deep or just "scab" in the particle board?

Do you overwinter in your double nucs? I know that's a change in subject, but was curious.

Thanks for sharing the pictures and goiing through the trouble of reposting.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Since I use a hive body that will latter be used as a brood chamber deep or second deep for winter stores. I use a router with a 1/4" (wrong measure ment on last post.) straight bit to make the groove in the ends to hold the OSB in place. The OSB is 1/4" the cheapest thing stuff I could find. It is protected from the elements inside the hive plus after a couple of seasons they are was and proplis coated. I stop raising queens in August unless I get a colony that goes queenless.

I listened to some bee keepers here in Michigan includeing the president of the Michigan Bee keepers tell about over wintering in nuc boxes. 2006 a mild winter for Michigan I set up 6 nucs behind the houney house which provided a north wind break. With 3 rows of pine trees and two stacks of extra deeps and a mix of medium and shallow honey supers as a western wind break. Not one of them made it despit the fact on warm days when they flew I would put a half gallon of syrup in there. 2007 I did 2 nucs but made a set of second ones to set on top so they had a stack of ten frames plus feeding half gallons of syrup on days they were flying. They also didn't make it.
I'm not going to try to do the nucs over winter again. I hate looseing good queens that way.

John and his dad at Munro honey in Alvinston Ont. Canada over winter in single deeps with a good rate alive in the spring. You can go to their web site and contact them for more information.


 Al


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Here in Kansas at KU at Lawrence, the gent who cares for the university hives winters over nucs by making them 2 deep, and on the south side of the honey house.

He says almost all of them will make it, but, Kansas is warmer than Michigan!


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## Durandal (Aug 19, 2007)

Alley

I think I'll try out doing and equal amount of nucs and queen castles and compare. I really enjoy experimenting and seeing how it all turns out.

A couple emailed me about the Queen Castle set-up and I decided to do a blog entry about it here: http://www.carriagehousefarmllc.com/Beekeeping/News_&_Education/News_&_Education.html

The important part though is simply the photographs which I'll post here.














































As you can see compared to the first pics, I drilled larger holes to take standard Mason Jar lids, so you can use a jam Jar to Quart. I have quarts in the photos to show that the deep (you can use a medium if use pints) fits just fine.

All in all I am happy with it.

Right now I am making nuc and 10 frame covers and trying to decide if I want to put similar sized holes in the lids to feed jars as top feeders.

Anyone else do this?


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