The bees keep removing the eggs from the nicot box prior to day four. Suggestions for preventing this? Thanks
Put it between two combs of open brood.
I had a lot of problems using the Nicot laying cage.
I graft now and use all the parts to the nicot system for everything matches.
I grafted 96 larva on May 9 and 83 took.
Of the 83 I had 3 cells not emerge.
I wet graft into the nicot cell cups with the small end of the german grafting tool.
Nicot works well, but it can be very finicky and can easily be an all or nothing adventure.
In addition to placing between two frames of open brood as suggested, are you removing the queen excluder when you release the queen?
Here is what worked for me.
http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/queen-rearing/