Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Raising Queens => Topic started by: LazyBkpr on June 21, 2014, 11:59:44 am
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Today is the day... WAS.. the day...
Yesterday, TedH (Eagle Eye Ted ) came down so we set up our "starter" colony.. If any of you have been through my site I dont use starter and finishers for the amount of queens I try to make, but yesterday we built up a pretty strong Nuc.. 4 Strong frames of capped brood, some starting to emerge, and about 4 shakes of nurse bees.
They got a jar of syrup put on top of them and left for the night.
Today, TedH came back down.. We went up to one of the outyards and pulled a freshly built frame filled with eggs and larvae from one of the expensive VSH queens I installed this spring..
The punch table was all set up before hand....
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs27.postimg.cc%2Fdbngv4g7z%2FDSCF0536.jpg&hash=ee1456e71da072d0b81c99ec5e64e7e12e5f2042) (http://postimg.cc/image/dbngv4g7z/)
So all that was left was to begin finding the larvae of the right age...
Unfortunately, at this point I stopped thinking about the camera, so I didnt get any pictures of myself punching cells, waxing the back of them and setting them into the cups... Sorry..
However! I did get a picture of Eagle eye himself trying his hand!!!
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs11.postimg.cc%2Fbruhyh9in%2FDSCF0537.jpg&hash=8480b582b27d8a62172f68d9d57573191931e776) (http://postimg.cc/image/bruhyh9in/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs29.postimg.cc%2Ff2aq1w2v7%2FDSCF0538.jpg&hash=2dc7d48520ccd50a1bbe7babeee7ed25a9a6bba8) (http://postimg.cc/image/f2aq1w2v7/)
We punched fifteen cells, settled them into the bar and slid the bar into the queenless colony we built yesterday, beside a frame of pollen and nectar.
I'll go out in three or four days and see how many of the cells they are working. I am hoping for ten to twelve this go round. Now there is only the waiting!
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Scott- "Unfortunately, at this point I stopped thinking about the camera, so I didnt get any pictures of myself punching cells, waxing the back of them and setting them into the cups... Sorry..
Booooooo, no excuses Mr. Scott!
Ted is a lucky guy to have you for a mentor ;) 8)
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Solid work! I understand about the camera. I have to put it down to attend to the job at hand. Yesterday's cut out was one of those occasions.
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I totaly understand unless i have a camera man with me ( camera daughter) Taking pictures ger in the way of getting the job done.
Sent from my LG-P500h using Tapatalk 2
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thanks for the pix scott, i like your home made cell puncher....what did you use, some sort of fitting or tube?
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So, how cool was that!? It had that "mad scientist" feel to it that appealed to a certain part of my nature. My hands and fingers have been pretty broken up/ beaten up over the years and don't seem to work as well as they use to. Add to that the shakiness and you'll understand that my first punch wasn't the best! Man, that wax is SOFT!
Jen: Yes I do feel very fortunate to have an experienced keeper (okay, and pretty nice guy!) close enough to make driving there possible.
The experience on Saturday gave me a little boost of confidence in that the first time Josh and I were at Lazy's bee yard, he (Lazy) was talking about punching cells and rearing queens, all I could think was, "What freaking language is he speaking?". At the time I was trying to keep the hive components straight in my head. The big box is a deep commonly used as a...BROOD BOX! that's it. The smaller box is called a...a...a ....Super! There's the telescopic cover, umm, bottom board, what was the long skinny piece of wood called... Oh Yeah, an entrance reducer! Compare all that to the fact that Saturday's cell punch made perfect sense to me. GO TED! Oh brother. Oh and by the way? This is the first time I've ventured into the Queen Rearing section of the forum. Why bother? It all sounded like gobbledy gook before! Ah yes, small steps, but steps non the less. Ted
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Way to go Ted.Now your hooked.Just wait till you get to see the new queens.
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One day, one week, one month and one year at a time it will get easier and more understandable. If I get to rattling on and something isnt understood please tell me to back up...
Mentor? Don't know about that.. friend maybe, another beek willing to help.
I don't even have to see the queens, just pulling those capped cells from the cell bars is enough to get me amped up.
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River lazy mist your question but I remember him saying he used a piece of a bullet casing. Can't remember the caliber 308, 30 06, 30 30, or some other size as long as it cuts around the cell.
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River lazy mist your question but I remember him saying he used a piece of a bullet casing. Can't remember the caliber 308, 30 06, 30 30, or some other size as long as it cuts around the cell.
.44 Mag. It's on his website.
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I went to a queen rearing seminar / class yesterday. They were going to show us small timers how to raise queens without grafting. When it got down to cell punch (why I went) he said he was not really going to cover it and only had 6 flyers.
I will have to look up your site, I need about 8 QC to requeen my hives this year and time is getting short.
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Lazy, is that a jug of moonshine on the back of the table? For nerves and snake bite, I suppose?
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Sorry Yes.. .44 mag case cut down and soldered to a screwdriver...
No moonshine unfortunately.. thats syrup for the queen raising split in the jug...
Yeah, all the info is on the website.. I have been planning pictures and vids since last year, just seems that when the time arrives I dont think about all those plans until I am done.. Then I kick myself for not filming it.. I'll try to get the next batch on vid...
http://outyard.weebly.com/queens.html
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"River lazy mist your question but I remember him saying he used a piece of a bullet casing. Can't remember the caliber 308, 30 06, 30 30, or some other size as long as it cuts around the cell."
thank you apis, and thanks scott for the reply, knew it was soldered on but didn't know what you used.
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Most of the queens I raise end up on the darker side. Not sure if anyone else has this happen?
Typically the VSH and package queens are primarily golden colored;
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs17.postimg.cc%2Fkrk9hur0b%2FDSCF0544.jpg&hash=5cbe4fd17d82e9be7442a515f2b3d2e9150d6d08) (http://postimg.cc/image/krk9hur0b/)
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs10.postimg.cc%2F3y8ovqfqt%2FDSCF0547.jpg&hash=6dbdfd56cadf6dfca53200608a99b2030d297ff2) (http://postimg.cc/image/3y8ovqfqt/)
Taking eggs from them usually results in about 4 out of 5 looking like Black beauty here..
(https://worldwidebeekeeping.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs16.postimg.cc%2F58nlipspd%2FDSCF0550.jpg&hash=99d9d3f01bcdd47bba712568d16c65e1a1d8628e) (http://postimg.cc/image/58nlipspd/)
I need to locate one of the feral queens again, they look like the black queen but have golden stripes on their abdomen. I'll get a picture of one of them next time I get one in my sights.
I am assuming it is because they are mating with feral drones or the Carny mixes I have. I am not complaining, it seems the darker queens have a better winter survival skill/ability, just wondering if anyone else had noticed this?
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wow scott! look at that black beauty!!! thanks for the pix, love those dark queens, even though sometimes they are hard to find.
what would you say your success rate is with cell punching?
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heh well... success rate.... sometimes its 30% and sometimes its 70% Seems to be getting better as I make progressive attempts..
I also seem to have a little better luck when i find a queenless hive that is starting to dwindle and drop a cell bar in it, as apposed to building a really strong starter to make my cells. Might have something to do with how long they are queenless. Ted and I set up a starter on Friday, and put the cells into it on saturday afternoon.. Today I found one of the packages I installed had a failed queen so I popped out another ten cells and dropped into that hive. Will see which one of them has the better acceptance.
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thanks scott, you are the only beek i know that does cell punch, so am interested in your posts, insight, experience on this. thank you!
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When you pick up the cell punch do you need to say "Go ahead,make my day."
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;D Thats reserved for anyone that disturbs me while using it.
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Lazy, have you checked on the cells yet? I'm trying to be PATIENT but, come on man! Ted
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hehe, yeah, looks like about nine of the fifteen took, so thats better than 50% but also means I'll have to make another attempt to get all the queens I need.
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Don't forget your camera.
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Howdy Scott, any updates? Tom
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Updates this week. I'll be setting up a second batch. Will try to take a few more detailed pictures.
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Updates this week. I'll be setting up a second batch. Will try to take a few more detailed pictures.
Thanks for the reply, looking forward to this posting getting more detailed. Tom
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The HoneyDEW list has had me busting my back among other things... Working 12 hours a day trying to get caught up and projects DONE so I can have part of this summer to do things I want to do..
Next attempt will be started tomorrow making up the queenless hive. Friday I will see if the minion can come take pictures while I punch the cells so I can get a little more detail involved.
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Aargh you a Pirate or a cell puncher? ;D ;D
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jb, he's a cell punching pirate......... :D
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LOL What Mrs. RIver said.. BOTH!! depending mostly on if I am out of rum or not....
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dang scott, you always make me laugh!
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Now we're talk-in.I could have just written bump,but where's the fun in that?I made the 44 tool but now I'm so busy I don't have time to start queens.So it's up to you Scott.Living vicariously thru pirates. :D