u a hole 250 mm x 100 mm is made in one side of the be covered with nurse bees. Both sides of each comb are
box and a panel of mesh fitted. sprayed with water and bees from all six frames shaken
into the empty larvae transport box. The box is bumped onThese modifications will prevent overheating and permit
the ground from time to time while collecting the bees andwater to be sprayed onto the bees when necessary.
water sprayed into the box, if necessary, to prevent the
A new crownboard is made which has a 25 mm fillet fitted bees from flying.
on the underside to keep the board well clear of the frame Then the transport box's frames are lowered on to the mass
tops. A 10 mm fillet is fitted on top to give room for the cell of bees allowing them to sink slowly through the bees into
cup caps. The crownboard is drilled with 19 mm holes to position. The box is closed up by screwing on the new
accept the cell cup caps. Nine rows of holes with five in crownboard. A plain crownboard is used while filling the box
each row is a convenient number. The insides of the brown as one closed with 45 cell caps reacts badly to bumping!
cell cups are painted with a mixture of honey and water
before being introduced to the bees so that they have a The grafts (one-day-old larvae) are taken from frames of
chance to accept the cups for a day before grafting. young brood removed from the hive miles away and
transported in a damp towel. There is no point inThe crownboard is attached to the nucleus box with four
propagating inferior genetic material, so the larvae from thescrew nails. It is important to ensure that the frames in the
best queens available should be used.box have no brood and, of course, no queen. It is filled
with: GRAFTING
u two frames of pollen Grafting is done directly into the brown cell cups which are
u two frames with open stores to provide food held in the cell cup caps. As these are done, they are
u one frame of drawn comb that has been filled with exchanged for empty cups, already in the holes in the
water crownboard. It is best to cover the hole in the crownboard
with a finger while changing cells and, after practice, fewu plenty of nurse bees.
bees escape. This means that within seconds of grafting,
The frame of drawn comb containing water should be the nurse bees in the transport box are nurturing the larvae.
placed at the side next to the mesh panel and the others Indeed, it is possible to ascertain if the larvae have ‘taken’
alternated. within an hour. Each cell will have a rim of new wax but to
be sure the larvae have been accepted it is necessary toCOLLECTING NURSE BEES FOR THE LARVAL
look for the larva inside each cell. Those with no larva canTRANSPORT BOX
be replaced.
The nurse bees are collected by the organisers as follows. A slab of 50 mm thick insulation is placed on top of the
The day before making up the box with bees, in each of crownboard and the whole unit strapped together for
about six colonies a frame of unsealed brood is lifted from transport. These larvae are best transferred to the prepared
the lower brood box into a super above the queen excluder, colonies (cell-raising colonies) the following day.
shaking off all the bees beforehand. An eke (or an empty CELL-RAISING COLONY
super) is fitted under each super enough to accommodate
the deeper brood frame. These six frames will, the next day, Recipients of the association one-day-old larvae must
prepare a cell-raising colony the day before taking delivery.
Recipients must prepare a queen-cell-raising colony one The chosen method calls for a minimum of equipment and
day before delivery of the one-day-old larvae uses a colony initially on a single brood chamber. It does
not interfere with honey production.
The method is described by Ben Harden, NDB, in the
‘Beekeeping in a Nutshell’ booklet number 59 entitled ‘A
Simple Method of Raising Queen Cells’.
In summary, it requires the temporary establishment of a
second brood chamber immediately above the queen
excluder containing only a cell bar frame with five cell bar
blocks, a frame of young brood to attract up nurse bees
and two frames of pollen. The remainder of the space is
filled out with two fat dummy boards.
The extra equipment required is thus a spare brood
chamber and a few brown cell cups, cup caps and cell bar
blocks. All spares for the Cup-Kit system are available from
equipment suppliers. It is important to demonstrate this
system at an earlier meeting and give out guidance notes.
Page 10 Bee Craft digital December 2008
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