# Incubators



## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

I wanted to try an incubator to let cells mature once they are capped. The last few years we lose plenty of cells to virigins returning to the queenless cell builders. Any ideas? I need something for a few hundred cells at a time.

Thanks.

Jean-Marc


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## Velbert (Mar 19, 2006)

*incubators*

I thought about fixing one of these up 

http://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/category/incubators_parts.html

Or put a queen excluder on the bottom of your cell builder

In Better bee or Brushy Mountain they have a Queen excluder thing that fits in the entrance to keep drones and Queens in or out


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## adamf (Jan 28, 2006)

Several ideas here:

http://www.ibiblio.org/pub/academic...eeping/general/management/queen.incubator.txt

We found a really nice inexpensive lab incubator on ebay that we use for exactly what you're thinking of doing. It could hold 300 cells easily. You'll need to make a rack for them though.

Good luck!
Adam
[email protected]


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

And the old in hive incubator....
http://www.myoldtools.com/Bees/incubator/


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Velbert:

Thank you, that would work.

Jean-Marc


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Jean:

I bought one last year from Tim ast Honey Run Apiaries. Its VERY nice... right up your ally!!!


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Chef:

I was looking at it. Seems reasonable. I use narrow frames, about 3/4 inches so I could probably get 10 frames inside of one, so 450 cells if all took. That would probably work.

I guess cells go in once capped. So does one let the virgins hatch say in that new "Yordy system" . If so what food should be placed for the virgins? Honey and pollen would be my choice. Anybody with experience. Presumably there are no attendants and virgins could be in there for 1 or 2 days be cause of this or that delay.

Jean-Marc


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

Ross said:


> And the old in hive incubator....
> http://www.myoldtools.com/Bees/incubator/


What prevents the queens from going back into the cell? It seems they don't have reverse, and once head first into a cell they don't last very long.


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

It can happen, but the chamber in these is larger than the curler cages. It doesn't happen quite as much. We don't leave them in it very long, a couple of days at most.


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## tarheit (Mar 26, 2003)

Haven't had many problems with the queens dieing head first, though it does occasionally happen. Many of them will go head first in the cell (apparently eating any remaining royal jelly), but rarely have trouble backing out.

An incubator doesn't have to be a complex beast. You just need some sort of box, a thermostat, heat source and source of moisture. I have a 5 frame I use to use exclusively, but now use mostly for transportation since I built a bigger one. My 5 frame one is pictured here: http://www.honeyrunapiaries.com/16.32.0.0.1.0.phtml . It's a bit overly complex in construction (double walls with insulation) and a simpler box works well (the one I sell). Plans for both are here: http://www.honeyrunapiaries.com/beekeeping_plans.phtml

Once I started doing more I found I needed more space when storing drones or queens for II in addition to cells, and I didn't want to carry around all the cells when I only needed to move some. So I made an incubator out of an old refrigerator. Just a Ranco thermostat, 1500W ceramic heater (serious overkill, but available and cheap), a fan to keep the temperature even, and a pan to hold water. Can take some pictures if anyone is interested, but it's not fancy.


-Tim


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

Ross

Can you post the size and dimension of these incubator bars? Also what size are the holes drilled? Thanks.


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## tarheit (Mar 26, 2003)

I'm assuming you mean the nusery frame? The overall dimention isn't terribly critical. It's just sized to fit 2 in a medium frame. 16-7/8" x 1-7/8" x 1-3/16". The hole on the top is sized to fit the wide base queen cells and is 5/8" dia. The hold on the bottom part is a bit larger to give the queen more space and is 7/8" diameter.

-Tim


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

tarheit said:


> I'm assuming you mean the nusery frame? The overall dimention isn't terribly critical. It's just sized to fit 2 in a medium frame. 16-7/8" x 1-7/8" x 1-3/16". The hole on the top is sized to fit the wide base queen cells and is 5/8" dia. The hold on the bottom part is a bit larger to give the queen more space and is 7/8" diameter.
> 
> -Tim


Tim, thanks, I think I will make a few of these .


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

The saw curfs in mine are just made with a standard 1/8" blade. The hole was sized to fit the Jenter plug. I used a 2x4 the length of a frame, notched it to make the ears to sit on the frame rest, drilled the holes, and curfed it. Someday I'll get around to making a nice one. You can also make it fit inside a frame.


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## bee crazy (Oct 6, 2005)

Hi Ross and Tim, I think I will make one of these incubators. How long are you able to keep a queen banked ? A week, a month, all summer? 
Also Ross you said "The hole was sized to fit the Jenter plug". Have you had any trouble with a cell being too fat to fit in the hole? and you also said "I used a 2x4 the length of a frame ". So I take this to mean the interior depth of the cavity is around 3 to 3 1/4 inches. Am I reading you correct.
Thanks so much.


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## tarheit (Mar 26, 2003)

You can bank queens in the frames just like you would in cages. They do better for shorter periods, but I have seen people bank them for months or more. Their quality seems to go down the longer they are banked (though it's no consistent queen to queen).

Someone wrote last year I think here on beesource that they were given a bunch of queens that were banked for a couple months (they were forgotten about). I believe he wrote that 50% turned out just fine after being introduced into a hive.

I mainly use them for managing time and weather, for hatching out virgins that are to be shipped, and for saving virgins for insemination.. For example, if cells are to hatch out but queens haven't been pulled from the nucs because they were delayed due to weather. Banking a virgin too long will result however in a queen that won't mate and will simply lay drones.

-Tim


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

We use it for banking virgins before introducing them to the mating nucs. This happens occassionally when we don't manage our time well.


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