# Cell Builder



## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Got drones emerging and showing up in small numbers. Have drone cells in one nuc and 3 of 4 hives I checked today. Sooooo. 

So set up the cell builder today and hope to graft tomorrow. Trying to do just 10 cells at a go, so we shall see.

Have some capped larvae in the cell builder as well as well plus some older larvae. So will have need bees by next weekend as well. Will go through it when I graft and smash any cell cells started. Planning to try a few rounds here early on. This is mainly just to learn. I will make some nucs and let them build while watching them close. If they are puny queens I will let them start and just replace as I get better ones created. Will use the puny ones to make swarm lures. 

Only issue I see is that with the daily T-storms we are getting for the next week (and over the last week) pollen is in short supply, but I have placed pollen patty in the hive. 

So after tomorrow I will see what happens. opcorn: And then we wait and see.


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## tsmullins (Feb 17, 2011)

Take this with an extreme grain of salt. But if you just now have drone cells, then it is probably too early to start your queens. You will need sexually mature drones for the queen to get mated.

Shane


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

tsmullins - I have some drone emerging and some running around already. Figure the rest should be emerging in 24 to 30 days. This attempt is mainly to try grafting and seeing what happens. Figure with a cell builder set up and capped brood in it, I can set another frame of capped brood in it next week and keep lots of nurse bees in it for the month of March by adding a frame of capped brood each week. 

Thanks


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## Beregondo (Jun 21, 2011)

If it takes 24 days for a drone to emerge from the day an egg is laid, and 20 for a queen to emerge, there should be ple try of drones --including those laid the day after the queen is -- by the time she has s ready to go on mating flights, don't you think?


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Beregondo - May have got my emergence times wrong for the drones but I figured with several hives having capped drones and already having some crawling around there should be some to mate if I am successful.

Temperatures are looking like it will be 60 to 63 degrees. Will do it inside the house where it is slightly warmer. 

Thanks


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Your area no doubt has plenty of drones available now.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

Go for it! Just keep grafting every week or so and you'll sort everything out pretty quickly.


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## CajunBee (May 15, 2013)

Drones showing up here too. Due to all the rain, I've cancelled any grafting practice for another couple weeks. Will try to sneak in tomorrow and open side of the brood nests to keep swarming out of their little minds. 
Supposed to turn cold again mid week. Crazy weather.


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## jbeshearse (Oct 7, 2009)

Beregondo said:


> If it takes 24 days for a drone to emerge from the day an egg is laid, and 20 for a queen to emerge, there should be ple try of drones --including those laid the day after the queen is -- by the time she has s ready to go on mating flights, don't you think?



:scratch:

Queens emerge at 16 days after the egg is laid. (for the most part)

COnventional wisdom says a drone may reach sexual maturity at about 35 days after the egg is laid. This means that the drone eggs need to be laid 19 days earlier than the queen. However, queens do not rush roght out and mate the day they hatch out. They usually take 5 to 10 days to take their mating flights.

In any event, I am sure Jim is correct, in your area you should have plenty of drones available. Here in NW FLorida, my hives are packed with drones and have been for at leat a month.


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Blasted weather. Was not going to crack the hive with a heavy mist coming down this afternoon. Figured enough foragers would be home that things would be interesting. 

Hoping to get a chance tomorrow afternoon. Should be able to locate any potential queen cells and smash them if I get into the box. 

Have a sunny day predicted on Thursday, but day time temperatures are supposed to be 30 to 41. That might not be the best day to mess with the hives. :no:


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Ok - Lesson One. Don't try to collect nurse bees on days that are heavily overcast, slight misting rain off and on, apparently more than half of the bees I dumped headed back home. So I primed it with a frame of eggs/young larvae and added more nurse bees (I hope). 

There were two queen cells that had huge larvae in them, so they were smashed. 

Will pull the new frame of eggs and young larvae tomorrow and try to graft then.


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## philip.devos (Aug 10, 2013)

@marsh keep us posted; we in the east are a few weeks from spring; it's just snow, sleet & rain here .

I am looking forward to raising some queens this year.


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## CajunBee (May 15, 2013)

We actually had some sunshine today!:applause: Strongest hive had a major traffic jam at the entrance...orientation flights, pollen coming in, etc. Opened it up to find they already had box 4 drawn out (9 days), so slapped another box on. Lots of drone brood. Checked three hives at an out yard and they are slower building, but getting there. 

Keep us posted on your progress!


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Cajun - My ladies are slow to draw out comb at this point. But I am seeing some new stuff getting built so apparently ya'll are a bit ahead of me. Fourth box 4 finished, that is sweet, making me a little jealous. Still sitting with 3 on mine and top one is only about 3/4 drawn. 

Sunshine was nice around midday then clouded up, 72 degrees, and yea there was some major traffic jams at the stronger hives. Lots of pollen moving. 

Tried to graft some, have only 3 cups with larvae in the hive, time will tell. What I tried grafting with sure didn't work as well as I hoped. My technique is like this: Smash one, crush another, impale another, got one on tool, rip it in half, poke through bottom of cell, then finally get one in the cup. Had figured I could graft 8 to 10 in 45 minutes. Well that was wrong. Had more problems finding the correct age larvae. I had 2 entire frames of eggs in my donor hive. Only correct age larvae were in the center of a frame that was hatching out bees on the edge of frame.

Maybe I will get one or two queen cells. This was mainly to practive. Need a 6 inch magnifying glass I guess for next try. Will make another attempt next week when it warms up. 

Guess I will have to purchase a pile of Chinese grafting tools.


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## johng (Nov 24, 2009)

marshmasterpat said:


> Ok - Lesson One. Don't try to collect nurse bees on days that are heavily overcast, slight misting rain off and on, apparently more than half of the bees I dumped headed back home.


Use a closed starter. Keep the starter closed up with a feeder for the first 24-48hrs, then you won't have to worry about loosing too many bees to drift.


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## CajunBee (May 15, 2013)

marshmasterpat said:


> Fourth box 4 finished, that is sweet, making me a little jealous. Still sitting with 3 on mine and top one is only about 3/4 drawn.


I run all 8-frame mediums, so keep that in consideration.

75 degrees yesterday, 33 and sleet right now. The joys of queen rearing! Lol


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

0 for 3 on first attempt. Think it was more the grafting than the acceptance.

Spent yesterday painting instead of grafting  but have enough finished that those gals can make 3 or 4 boxes of mediums honey each.

Then spent today dogging rain, and trying to graft. Made 11 this go round.

Eyes are getting old so might have to invest in something like this.

http://www.sears.com/luxo-16345lg-light-duty-illuminated-fluorescent-magnifier/p-SPM7433833923

Had the frogging light on the bridge of my nose and my nose about 3 inches from the comb. But finally got some done. Think I only killed about 1.5 larvae for each one I grafted. If any work, will buy more cups and some of those Chinese grafting probes. Made some from bamboo tooth picks. Crude but worked.


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## CajunBee (May 15, 2013)

Well shucks. At least the weather looks promising next week with highs getting up to a notch above 70. Keep at it. opcorn:

I'm working on my game plan for next week, just in case mother nature and the girls are all in the mood.


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## chazman (Dec 2, 2010)

marshmasterpat said:


> ...
> 
> Eyes are getting old so might have to invest in something like this.
> 
> ...



Or this one might save you some $$$ http://www.harborfreight.com/fluorescent-magnifying-lamp-60643.html


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

LOL - 0 for 9 second time at bat. Think I will wait until more of a flow starts before trying again. But then I may not.


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## David LaFerney (Jan 14, 2009)

Good magnification and light sure do help. I use an optivisor.


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Ok, Step #1, make sure the frame of capped brood comb has no hidden eggs or larvae.

Started move frames around to add another frame of capped and almost capped larvae. Yikes there is 5 queen cells. So instead of adding more frames I was running around getting mating nucs ready. 

Didn't get a chance to move them. This frame is one I installed on the 3rd. Cells are right against the top board, guess those bees had emerged and the queen had already laid some eggs I didn't see. Might be able to move them to mating nucs in the AM. Otherwise they will just have to fight it out.


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## CajunBee (May 15, 2013)

Looks like they had other plans Pat. LOL
I'm on schedule to try my hand at it Monday. Did you shake a bunch of nurse bees to make your starter?
My original plan was to pull the queen and two frames of open brood from the big hive and use it as the starter. But now, after reading what happened in your case, maybe I should pull the queen from one of the small hives and shake nurse bees in till it's packed, for a starter. :scratch: Figured the big hive would have more resources. It certainly has lots of drones. 
Had fun practicing marking drones for half an hour today. Looks like a bunch of little kings running around with gold crowns ! LOL


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