I would be remiss if I discuss queen rearing and not discuss the more common gadgets and gimmicks that people use to avoid grafting. We’ll start with cell punching.
Cell punching is where I started in queen rearing. There are some companies that make kits, it’s typically some wooden squares, about 3/4 inch and 1/16 thick. And a cylinder welded to a handle to punch through the comb. Sort of like an apple corer. I made mine from an old 45acp cartridge and cut off the bottom with a tubing cutter. Then soldered to a piece of coat hanger. It worked quite well.
(This cell punch is from Jason Chrisman at JC's Bees)
The idea of cell punching is to find the appropriate age larvae, then cut it out like coring an apple and then attach it to a cell bar. You are supposed to melt some wax on to the bar and the little wood squares, then heat the wax and attach the punched cell.
Easier said than done. I believe that I did 8 the first time, burned my fingers with the lighter getting the wax hot enough to attach the cut outs. I know that on that first attempt I got 2 queens. Was very excited. I did the process again two or three times, “grafting” 6-8 at a time and getting 3-5 queens. To solve the issue of burning my fingers, I bought some JZ-BZ cups. After punching the cell, I pressed them into the cups. Worked pretty well. I had a “graft” fall out of a cup and ended up with a queen in the builder, of course I didn’t know this until the next set of “grafts”. Bottom line on this, it does work, if you try to do this long term you’ll eventually use up all of the comb. For just a 1 time thing and for just a few queens, it does work but I think the cut comb method (on my All About Raising Queens Page) is similar and much simpler.
The idea of cell punching is to find the appropriate age larvae, then cut it out like coring an apple and then attach it to a cell bar. You are supposed to melt some wax on to the bar and the little wood squares, then heat the wax and attach the punched cell.
Easier said than done. I believe that I did 8 the first time, burned my fingers with the lighter getting the wax hot enough to attach the cut outs. I know that on that first attempt I got 2 queens. Was very excited. I did the process again two or three times, “grafting” 6-8 at a time and getting 3-5 queens. To solve the issue of burning my fingers, I bought some JZ-BZ cups. After punching the cell, I pressed them into the cups. Worked pretty well. I had a “graft” fall out of a cup and ended up with a queen in the builder, of course I didn’t know this until the next set of “grafts”. Bottom line on this, it does work, if you try to do this long term you’ll eventually use up all of the comb. For just a 1 time thing and for just a few queens, it does work but I think the cut comb method (on my All About Raising Queens Page) is similar and much simpler.
The next or maybe the most popular gadget is the Nicot system. Very closely related to the Jentner method so we’ll call them the same. This system is attractive because it doesn’t involve any grafts, and you’re not cutting comb. The device is a grid of 110 plastic cells, about the size of worker bee cells, on which you place a little brown plastic cup.
The queen is caged on this grid for up to 3 days, where she is expected to lay eggs in the cups. The cups are then transferred to a queen-less builder.
People ask my opinion on this a lot, and yes I have used one several times. They do in fact work as advertised, as long as the user follows the instructions. But there are some significant drawbacks. When asked about this, I frequently ask back, do you want to make 100 cells? The answer has so far always been no. So the next question is, then why would you sacrifice ½ frame of eggs just to get a handful of grafts? And that’s what is sacrificed. While the queen is stuck in the cage, she’s not laying eggs for the colony. Even a mediocre queen could lay half a frame of eggs. So giving up a couple thousand eggs for 10 grafts, I don’t see that as a good trade. Another drawback is handling the queen to cage her. If she gets damaged, the bees will replace her. On the plus side of this system, the little brown cups and the bar receivers are great. Along with the push on roller cages. There are a lot of queen producers who use them just for the ability to put cages on the cells to protect them from other queens.
The queen is caged on this grid for up to 3 days, where she is expected to lay eggs in the cups. The cups are then transferred to a queen-less builder.
People ask my opinion on this a lot, and yes I have used one several times. They do in fact work as advertised, as long as the user follows the instructions. But there are some significant drawbacks. When asked about this, I frequently ask back, do you want to make 100 cells? The answer has so far always been no. So the next question is, then why would you sacrifice ½ frame of eggs just to get a handful of grafts? And that’s what is sacrificed. While the queen is stuck in the cage, she’s not laying eggs for the colony. Even a mediocre queen could lay half a frame of eggs. So giving up a couple thousand eggs for 10 grafts, I don’t see that as a good trade. Another drawback is handling the queen to cage her. If she gets damaged, the bees will replace her. On the plus side of this system, the little brown cups and the bar receivers are great. Along with the push on roller cages. There are a lot of queen producers who use them just for the ability to put cages on the cells to protect them from other queens.
Another method that doesn’t get much attention, but an occasional question comes up, the bullet method. This involves a modified hive body, or a spacer to place above the box. A frame of young larvae is taken from a colony. The frame is laid down on a flat surface. Appropriate larvae cells are selected and a little bullet, a pencil eraser or air-soft pellet is placed in the cell. Then either fine powdered sugar or flower is sprinkled over the frame. The bullets removed and the frame is placed in the top of the modified box, lying on it’s side with the bulleted side down. Once again, you sacrifice that whole frame of brood to get a handful of queen cells.
I realize that this is just opinion here. For the back yard beek, who wants to make just a few cells once in a while, I firmly believe the cut comb is the way to go. After that, learn to graft, it really is not that difficult. The most difficult part in raising queens, is getting them mated.
