# JZBZ cages



## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

*Wooden cages comment.*

So how do you easily fill the wooden cages by the hundreds?


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## olympic (Aug 20, 2006)

*Jzbz Cages*

Wooden cages can be filled very easily by shaking bees into an empty broodchamber then place a piece of board (cut to fit inside) sloping towards the sun and then place the cages without the cork stoppers along the length of the gap between the end of the board and the top of the chamber. The bees are attracted to the light and fill the cages which can be removed and stoppered and another one is slid into place. By having 20 cages along the gap one is constantly removing and stoppering cages. Takes a few minutes to do 100.
Oly.


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

Interesting... I hadn't thought of that...

I have seen a picture of a system with an auto filler for candy on the JZBZ but not for filling with bees. 

It is time consuming to fill the cages one at a time... I've kept the large part of the cage open and scooped bees up with it and then quickly tried to close the flap and hold it closed with my finger over the smaller hole while I get the queen.. its cumbersome at best and I find myself fumbling with the darn things or dropping them... 

I went back to doing it one at a time.... but I bought a bunch of wooden cages this year to see if they are quicker. I'll try your method. Thanks.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Couldn't you build a rig with holes in it that the mouth of the plastic cage fits in and do them the same way?


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

why not use a funnel and sake bees in it?


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

oly: I do not understand what your method is for the wooden cages. Can you or someone explain?


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

Michael Bush said:


> Couldn't you build a rig with holes in it that the mouth of the plastic cage fits in and do them the same way?


The problem with that is the long tube part is the part that holds the candy. I already have the candy in place before I place the bees inside. You would need tubes that extend OUT from a box and fit into the side hole for that to work...


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

Chef Isaac said:


> oly: I do not understand what your method is for the wooden cages. Can you or someone explain?


If I understand it properly he takes a brood box and shakes bees into it... then he had a board that slides down inside. One end touches the bottom of the box on one side and the other end angles upwards toward the top of the box on the otherside.... You put the cages such that they fit into a space between the bottom of the board and the top of the box facing with the holes inside. Bees will see the light and crawl into the cages. 

Maybe I misunderstood what was meant but that was the way I took it. 

I even thought about taking a board and building a rim around it on three sides the rim being the same height or 1/16" taller than the wood q-cages. (think regular bottom board here) I could shake bees into the box and put this board w/ a rim upside down. This would leave a gap into which I could fill with q-cages entrace hole inside box. As one got 6 workers or so in it I could pull it and place another in its place until I got the number desired. Insert queens...When done... take your q-cages and walk off.. bees can be shaken in front of the hive/hives they came from.

If I'm off base please correct.


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## tarheit (Mar 26, 2003)

I'd think you would risk letting the queen out by allowing the cages to 'fill themselve', unless you are doing it before putting the queen in. In any case I'd think you'd have a very ununiform number of attendants in the cage (regardless of type of cage).

I usually place attendants in the JZBZ cages. I go out with cages that already have the candy in the tube. Then I catch the queen and place her in the cage and close the top, but leave the little cap (beside the candy tube) open with my finger on it. Then i just catch 4 workers by the wings and shove them in. Only takes a few seconds and is the same process I'd use to put attendants in the wooden cages.

-Tim


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Tim:

You would have laughed your butt off if you would of seen me this last season. I caught the queen, placed her in a cage, transefered her into the marking tube using the queen muff (which I love), marked her, place her in the cage. Than I went out and got the attendants, placed them in a nother cage and went back int othe shop. Using the queen muff again, I joined both holes together and let the queen cross into the other cage with attendants. 

I used tweezers to catch the attendiants. My wife wasent happy but I was


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## tarheit (Mar 26, 2003)

I'm not laughing. When I first started beekeeping I found I was rather allergic to bee stings. I wouldn't go into shock, I'd just have significant swelling around the sting. Especially when stung on the face or hands. So when I first started raising queens I basically had to wear gloves. It isn't easy to catch a queen and put her and her attendants in a cage with gloves. I figure out that I could catch the queen with a bunch of workers in one of those queen catching (hair clip) cages. Then by lining up the wide opening of the JZBZ cage and opening the 'hair clip' cage to match (covering the extra width with my finger) you could get the queen and enough workers in the cage if you were patient. It works, but I'm glad I don't have to wear gloves anymore.

-Tim


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## Chrissy Shaw (Nov 21, 2006)

*Would you like me to ask Jim?*

He is an engineer, i promise he will have some kind of answer.

Chrissy


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## sierrabees (Jul 7, 2006)

I haven't tried this, but it seems like a drop of queen pherimone in each cage would get the attendants in before you put the queen in. You might get a lot of piping from the queens though.


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## Chrissy Shaw (Nov 21, 2006)

*Here is what JZ said:*

Jim Paysen said that we use our fingers. As i recall down in his Jasper yard, with his first design, that is what we indeed did. In fact there was a picture of my fingers putting an attendant in a cage. That said, he also implied that the cover could be opened and you could scoop attendants in if you wanted to. I am guessing that if you are using so many attendants, you know well that the queen would go in last if you did it that way. You can go either way with fingers because the hole is plugged by finger or bee head. In nice weather you really don't get many stings with nucs and if you lift them correctly, you won't get it with that operation either.

I figuure you will develop a way that works for you in any case.

Chrissy


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