Worldwide Beekeeping

Beekeeping => Raising Queens => Topic started by: Blair Sampson on July 01, 2019, 08:45:55 am

Title: NOTCHING
Post by: Blair Sampson on July 01, 2019, 08:45:55 am
I was recently successful notching a walk away split. My process was standard: 2 frames of capped brood with 2 of honey/pollen. Notch capped brood frames in several spots and await queen hatching. To my amazement it worked.

Here's my question: I wish to do more splits and try notching again. This time I was planning on notching a selected frame of capped brood and leaving it in the mother (queen right) hive for a week or so prior to making a split. This would provide the split with a jump start.   My concerns are will having notched queen cells (as many as 6-8) promote swarming instincts in the mother hive. And/or will the existing queen in the mother hive kill off the cells prior to hatching? Would adding a queen excluder between brood boxes help?
Title: Re: NOTCHING
Post by: tedh on July 01, 2019, 08:56:20 am
You're notching capped brood?  I thought using 3 day old larva, or younger, was the way to go.   Ted
Title: Re: NOTCHING
Post by: Blair Sampson on July 01, 2019, 09:04:18 am
Notching day old larvae located between larger/older larvae and eggs.
Title: Re: NOTCHING
Post by: iddee on July 01, 2019, 01:06:15 pm
The workers will only pull the notched cells if the colony is queenless. They will only repair the cells if you leave them in the mother hive.
Title: Re: NOTCHING
Post by: tedh on July 01, 2019, 04:50:51 pm
Gottcha!  Thanks for the clarification. Ted