Notching for Queen Cells

Ben Framed · April 18, 2019, 11:59:20 AM

Mr Bill, ?eltalia? from Australia. Has kindly gave me some information about the practice of notching. This is a very interesting subject. In my search for more information, I found this interesting video which does not really go to deeply in the notching subject but does have an interesting stand that can be used for either notching or grafting I suppose. I thought I would post it just in case it might benefit others. It is only about 3 minutes long.
Phillip

https://youtu.be/jJMUq2lkRb4

BeeMaster2 · April 18, 2019, 03:11:53 PM

Ben,
It does show the technique. Good share.

Jim Altmiller

CoolBees · April 19, 2019, 12:43:03 PM

Phillip, thank you for the video. That is a handy frame hilder. Could you (or anyone) explain the reason for Notching the cells?

Thanks,
Alan

Ben Framed · April 19, 2019, 01:18:50 PM

Thanks Alan, This is another way in which to raise queens. There are other videos and on line information that explain this in more detail. Eltalia, Mr Bill was taught this practice many years ago. You will find him on the down-under beekeeping heading which is a couple headings below the general beekeeping heading. I feel sure that if you ask him, he will be more than glad to explain this if further detail. As I said this is nothing new to him. Happy Good Friday to you,
Phillip

BeeMaster2 · April 19, 2019, 04:14:54 PM

Alan,
I use this technique when I do a split to make it easier for the bees to make a queen cell, especially on old comb. It enables the bees to make a vertical cell with out wasting a lot of Royal Jelly to float the larvae out to the edge of the comb. They bees usually use the notches over un notched comb.
Jim

CoolBees · April 19, 2019, 05:05:09 PM

You guys are great. Mr Bill definitely knows his stuff. Very knowledgeable man. I read all his posts and am thankful that he helps out here.

I appreciate the answers. It makes a lot of sense. I'll have to try that on my next split!

Alan

van from Arkansas · April 25, 2019, 07:04:55 PM

Adore dat dar accent: one day old LAVA holder and DEN, DAT frame holder... well the video was useful in demonstrating the subject matter. Hats off to the fella.

CoolBees · October 23, 2019, 04:24:04 PM

An update on this topic:

I used the Notching technique last time around when trying to get the bees to make queen cells - it didn't work for me/my bees.

Here's how I did it - I removed the queen and some nurse bees from 3 strong hives, and placed them each in a Nuc with some capped brood and stores.

Then I went into the strong hive and notched each frame (that contained eggs/day old larvae) in multiple places. 8 days later I returned. Every frame had capped QC's, and every notched area was repaired so well as to be almost invisible.

It seems, my bees made QC"s wherever they felt appropriate, and ignored my opinion on the matter. ... maybe my comb isn't old enough for this technique to be beneficial for them?

Thought I'd share my experience. All comments welcome.

jtcmedic · October 24, 2019, 03:22:34 PM

Cool ( I did buy the book from Mel )
I did the same on all mine made nucs with the queen and then notched got about 70 percent on the notches. I did notice that I chose to new of eggs in the failures, but the queens have been great. I did it in June after the solstice[attachment=0][/attachment] here was yesterday inspection.

CoolBees · October 24, 2019, 04:16:00 PM

Beautiful pattern JT.

In mine I only notched eggs - maybe I should have notched some freshly hatched larvae also. I'll be trying again next spring. I'm definitely open to improvements in my process. Regarding Notching for QC"s, in the words of Val Kilmer "I'm convinced the theory is sound" (from the movei The Ghost and The Darkness)

jtcmedic · October 24, 2019, 08:13:31 PM

Quote from: CoolBees on October 24, 2019, 04:16:00 PM
Beautiful pattern JT.

In mine I only notched eggs - maybe I should have notched some freshly hatched larvae also. I'll be trying again next spring. I'm definitely open to improvements in my process. Regarding Notching for QC"s, in the words of Val Kilmer "I'm convinced the theory is sound" (from the movei The Ghost and The Darkness)

loved that movie
From the book Mel disselkoen Mel notches 36 hour larvae from a full strength queenless colony. The book is great. Will read it again this winter(like Florida has one) to get ready for spring
Here is some good pics. http://www.mdasplitter.com/docs/Helpful_Tips_For_Notching-web.pdf
And a older discussion on Beemaster https://beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=44794.0

minz · October 28, 2019, 05:27:03 PM

Why notch plastic? I notch wax foundation in between the wires so I can cut the cells out. I alternate the height from side to side so I can cut multiple cells off of the same frame.

Michael Bush · October 28, 2019, 05:35:25 PM

I don't notch, but the rationale is that you choose the right age larvae and you spread the cells so they aren't in clumps that you can't easily separate. On plastic, the clumps probably don't matter so much, but if you put one notched cell on each frame you could put them each in a separate mating nuc. And you can pick the right age larvae.