Saturday, May 2, 2015

ECWBA FIELD DAY-INTRODUCTION TO QUEEN REARING

May has arrived and with it warmer weather.  The bees are thinking of raising replacement queens and swarming.  Some beekeepers are also raising queens now that warmer weather is here.  Shown in the photo are some Russian queen cells raised by beekeeper Fred, who is practicing for the upcoming field day.  This frame of queen cells are due to emerge May 8th.  Then about 2 weeks later they should have mated and started laying eggs. 


The process of raising queens will be demonstrated at the May 30th ECWBA Field Day.  Beekeepers Fred and Jon will demonstrate two methods of obtaining the proper age larvae.  Attendees will be invited to try manual grafting of larvae from the frame comb into queen cell cups.  A second method using a commercially available “egg catcher” will be shown.  The two (2) week process of raising queens will be compressed into a short 2 hour session.  Critical steps to raise queens will be highlighted.  See the EVENTS and CALENDER page for time and location of the field day.  


NURSE BEES ON QUEEN CELL BAR


                                                  NURSE BEES BRUSHED AWAY

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