Queen Cups

leechmann · February 23, 2011, 12:06:56 AM

I ordered a video on Grafting queens. In this video, they sell a queen grafting starter kit which has numerous pieces of equipment for grafting. The kit costs more than I'm willing to spend. I'm thinking alot of the items can be made. I want to make the board will the dowels on it, that they dip into wax to make the queen starter cups. Just asking what size dowels work best, and should it be shaved down on the very end. For example: if it's a 3/8 in. dowel, with the end down sized to 1/4 in.

Thank You Leechmann

hardwood · February 23, 2011, 12:35:28 AM

That's the way I do it. I find that I get a better acceptance from the wax cups.

I made my "dipping bars" with 3/8 dowels but tapered them down to 5/16or so before rounding the ends. The opening compares to to the plastic ones.

I'll be taking some of that stuff to Bud3 if you're planning to come. If not I suppose it will end up on a video at some point :-D

Scott

Brian D. Bray · February 23, 2011, 12:44:51 AM

The easiest way to raise queens for a small to medium sized operation is with queen castles. Each castle has 4 sections so 4 queens can be raised at the same time. If you don't need the queens, use them to build nucs.

Countryboy · February 23, 2011, 10:18:24 PM

You can build your own cell builder frame. Use a grooved bottom board to hold the push in cell cups. I just bought 100 of the push in cell cups for $8.65 from Mann Lake.

A trick beekeepers will do to increase acceptance of the plastic cups is to put them in a hive for 24 hours before they graft larva into the plastic cups. The bees polish up the cups and then the grafts take better.

OzBuzz · February 23, 2011, 10:25:20 PM

Quote from: hardwood on February 23, 2011, 12:35:28 AM
That's the way I do it. I find that I get a better acceptance from the wax cups.

I made my "dipping bars" with 3/8 dowels but tapered them down to 5/16or so before rounding the ends. The opening compares to to the plastic ones.

I'll be taking some of that stuff to Bud3 if you're planning to come. If not I suppose it will end up on a video at some point :-D

Scott

So do you mean the opening would be 3/8 and the end that is attached to the bar would be 5/16? Do you happen to have any pictures?

Michael Bush · February 24, 2011, 12:52:36 AM

There are a bunch of queen rearing books here:
http://bushfarms.com/beesoldbooks.htm

None require any equipment you don't make yourself. Two at least explain how to make your own cups. The rest don't require grafting at all.

leechmann · February 24, 2011, 07:13:10 PM

Thanks Michael. This is exactly what I was looking for.