Queen Cells and Grow Your Own Colonies!

[gmau...@earthlink.net]

Andrew Miller and I visited Catherine Edwards last Saturday to assist with grafting to make queen cells (and eventually mated queens!) for NUCs that she is putting together.  Andrew and I managed to come away with grafts that have since turned into some VERY nice queen cells that we are offering to club members for $10 each.  The cells will be ready for transport Mon/Tue.  Call or text me at (510) 427-6202 with your interest.  

If you are want/need to learn how to handle and/or utilize queen cells to make queens, I will host a get together this Sat at my place in Fremont.  The goal would be for you to learn what it takes to put a Mating NUC together on Sat, to put one (or more) together yourself at home Sun, and to pickup your cell(s) and seed your NUC(s) on Mon.  If successful, you will have a mated queen (or queens) by the end of May.  Please call or text if you want to reserve a space on Sat... and remember to bring a bee suit as we'll also be going through a few previously seeded NUCs to check for queen and/or queen signs.

While catching swarms and making splits is be both fun and exciting, building a colony  from good stock is equally as (if not more) rewarding.  It's also an opportunity to introduce known good genetics to your apiary.  These cells are from one of Catherine's best hives.  Andrew and I will attest to how extremely calm and easy to work we found the bees in the donor hive to be.  Catherine treats her bees and her records show that that hive maintained zero to two mite counts all last year.  There is no guarantee that your queen(s) will turn out like Catherine's, but the odds will be in your favor.

If you don't have the time or inclination to grow your own colony from a queen cell,  please contact Catherine and ask to get on her NUC waiting list...  Greg

[Rob Mathews, 2023 ACBA President]

This really sounds like a great event. I've added it to the events calendar on the website. Thanks for hosting this!

[Susan Donahue]

Good going Greg!

Sue

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[gmau...@earthlink.net]

If the schedule of Sat: get together, Sun: make NUC, Mon: seed NUC is a bit too involved...  with a little extra care and using cell protectors, we can make Sat 10AM: get together... Sat afternoon: make & seed NUC(s) work.

On Wednesday, April 26, 2023 at 1:12:40 AM UTC-7 gmau...@earthlink.net wrote: