Queen Grafting - OK, what am I doing wrong???

malachii · September 28, 2012, 09:23:46 AM

OK - I've grafted 3 times now and the bees clean and empty all my grafted cells by the 48 hour check. The cell producing hive has been left queenless for 24 hours, the bar of cells have been in the hive for a couple of days prior to grafting so the bees can clean them, I'm fairly sure the larvae I'm using is young enough (although I'm going to isolate the queen with new comb next time so I can exactly date the larvae at 3 days), I'm as careful as I can be "scooping" the larvae out of the cells (is it possible I'm being to rough?). Surely even if I am doing most things wrong I should still get 1 or 2 take out of the 48 cells that I am grafting. I am getting absolutely nothing but cleaned out cells? Any suggestions as too what I'm doing wrong or what I can check for? Is it possible it is too early in the season?

malachii

BjornBee · September 29, 2012, 06:50:23 AM

Quote from: malachii on September 28, 2012, 09:23:46 AM
Is it possible it is too early in the season?

malachii

I'd say your too late....... ;)

bernsad · September 29, 2012, 07:00:13 AM

Only problem is, it's Spring here Downunder.

malachii · September 29, 2012, 08:04:51 AM

Yeah - maybe I should have said I'm in Australia. It's pretty cool here still (days are 15-20 degrees C nights are quite often down to single numbers).

malachii

Jim134 · September 29, 2012, 10:12:50 AM

First of all you have drone bees ???

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

malachii · September 30, 2012, 09:38:29 AM

Quote from: Jim 134 on September 29, 2012, 10:12:50 AM
First of all you have drone bees ???

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

G'day Jim 134,

Not sure what you mean by this???? How does this affect the grafting of Queen cells?

malachii

buzzbee · September 30, 2012, 10:16:03 AM

If you do not have drones flying yet,grafting queens is pointless as they will not get mated. Bees may choose not to raise queens if conditions are not right. No flow ,cold temps are conditions that bees do not want drones or raising queens.

Jim134 · September 30, 2012, 02:44:48 PM

Quote from: buzzbee on September 30, 2012, 10:16:03 AM
If you do not have drones flying yet,grafting queens is pointless as they will not get mated. Bees may choose not to raise queens if conditions are not right. No flow ,cold temps are conditions that bees do not want drones or raising queens.

DITTO.....

thax Ken

IMHO just a waste of resources for the bees and you if you do not have flying drones.

BEE HAPPY Jim 134 :)

REDBEE · September 30, 2012, 08:09:13 PM

are you putting the queen cups upside down in the hive after you grafted ??

BjornBee · September 30, 2012, 10:55:31 PM

Quote from: REDBEE on September 30, 2012, 08:09:13 PM
are you putting the queen cups upside down in the hive after you grafted ??

Of course they are up side down......he is in Australia. :-D

Perhaps it would be best to post this in the dedicated forum for down under beekeepers. That way, advice would be coming from beekeepers that are in sync with what you are doing at this time of the year, instead of getting advice from beekeepers 6 months out of sync from your management. This was noted as one of the reasons the whole dedicated down under forum was started to begin with.

They would also know the environment, and timing, and possible problems that might be happening at this time.

The forum can be found here: http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/board,157.0.html

malachii · October 01, 2012, 08:42:50 AM

Quote from: buzzbee on September 30, 2012, 10:16:03 AM
If you do not have drones flying yet,grafting queens is pointless as they will not get mated. Bees may choose not to raise queens if conditions are not right. No flow ,cold temps are conditions that bees do not want drones or raising queens.

Yes - we have flying drones. Have had a couple of swarms as well so they are around. Still not sure how this would stop them from building the grafts into Queen cells though. I've seen queen cells in hives in the middle of winter here.

Didn't post it in the Downunder section because I thought it might be a more generic problem rather than a region specific. Oh well - maybe I'll try over there - thanks anyway :)

malachii

buzzbee · October 01, 2012, 10:13:23 PM

Isolating the queen to date the eggs is a good idea. And yes you can be too rough with the larvae.

Jim134 · October 03, 2012, 08:39:04 AM

malachii......
This may help you :roll:

http://youtu.be/qIYz65Vquxg

BEE HAPPY Jim :)

capt44 · April 13, 2013, 12:56:23 AM

I use a Timing Box to know how old the eggs and larva are.
I take a 10 frame box and put in 2 partitions made with queen excluders 7 1/2 high.
The center partition has the queen and the nurse bees and workers can go from one area to the other.
Each outer section has an entrance for the foragers to come and go.
The Center section has no outlet But the workers can care for the queen.
I check the center section and when I see eggs I move the frame to the outside area.
I know then I have 1 day old egg and I can come back on day 3 and should have larva.
I know the larva has just hatched and is in it's prime for grafting.
You can move the frames the queen has laid eggs in to the outer sections and know exactly the age of the larva.
You can literally raise thousand of grafting age larva in one Timing Box.