The manual graft of 20 cells only yielded 5 capped cells. I guess it must be operator (beekeeper Fred) error. Unfortunately, I don't know where I may have gone wrong, but suspect I may not have had enough bees in the swarm box or didn't select one day old prime larvae.
The graft done using the EZ queen kit yielded 18 capped cells out of 20. There was a 19th cell fully drawn, but had not been capped.
If I can find them homes the queens from these cells should be mated and laying by June 26th.
As a side note I was out randomly checking a few hives for honey in their supers. To my surprise one hive had already filled two (2) supers! Make sure your hives have the supers installed and don't miss out on the honey flow. I suspect this honey has come from either black locust flowers or dutch clover which are both in bloom right now.
Also, swarm season is here. I got a call from the local school about a swarm in the playground. The swarm looks to be about 5 pounds of bees and filled two brood chamber boxes. If lucky I might get a honey harvest from this swarm this year. What's the saying? A swarm in May is worth a load of hay. A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon. A swarm in July ain't worth a fly.
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