# Dowel size ??



## BigDaddyDS (Aug 28, 2007)

So, Aram, are you crazy or just a glutton for punishment?

Just buy the silly things... Rossman's had them in last year's catalog for around $10 bucks per pound, which is about 375 cells, or so. www.GAbees.com

But, to answer your question...
"Cell cup size can vary within limits with no difference in acceptance by the bees. Inside diameters of 1/4 to 5/16 inch are satisfactory."
- Contemporary Queen Rearing, by Harry Laidlaw. A Dadant Publication.

Hope that helps!
DS


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## Aram (May 9, 2006)

A little bit of both.  I wanted to try my hand at it and I like doing things from scratch. It's a hobby for me so I don't need to worry about it being profitable. Besides, I wouldn't know what to do with 375 cells. I do hear of failure due to tace chems found in wax (not from GABees, but with commercial cells in general). I know I use no chemicals in my hives... so if I fail I'll know it's something I've done wrong.
Thanks for the link and the info.
I'll give it a try.


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## BeeAware (Mar 24, 2007)

I use a 3/8 inch diameter dowel and then sand it to a 1/4 taper. I fasten several of these onto a board and dip them all at once. They work really well and it gives me a good use for the wax I always have on hand.


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## HVH (Feb 20, 2008)

I agree with BeeAware. I have 19 dowels on a wooden bar and can dip six cell bars of 19 faster than I could ever attach anything one at a time. I soak the dowel tips in soapy water for 10 minutes or longer before dipping, which allows for easy removal. Usually 4 or 5 quick dips is followed by a very quick twist of each cup (which makes removal of all 19 at once possible) and a few more dips. I heat the cell bar with my heat gun for a few moments, make one last dip of the cups, and apply the cups to the heated bar. After the cups adhere I add an extra drop of wax with a candle before pulling the dipping jig away from the cell bar. This process is extremely fast. The downside for me is that newly hatched eggs are very tiny and a little more difficult to see against the natural wax color. I suppose making the wax dark with charcoal "might work" but I have about 90% success now and don't want to rock the boat. I will probably make another 20 or so cell bars so I can do the dipping only once per season (with left overs). 
Purchasing the cups is convenient, but for me it is more work than dipping in batch. I have also found that the dipped cups are attached just firmly enough to never fall off the bars but in my experience are much easier to remove.


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## Jon L (Dec 29, 2007)

I use a 3/8 dowel also but I only sand it down to about 5/16 taper.I use only white wax scrapings for cups.


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## JohnBeeMan (Feb 24, 2004)

>>>I soak the dowel tips in soapy water for 10 minutes or longer before dipping

Do you have any opions on the soap residue in the cups - since soapy water will kill bees? I have wondered if this would reduce the acceptance of the grafts.


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## HVH (Feb 20, 2008)

JohnBeeMan said:


> >>>I soak the dowel tips in soapy water for 10 minutes or longer before dipping
> 
> Do you have any opions on the soap residue in the cups - since soapy water will kill bees? I have wondered if this would reduce the acceptance of the grafts.


I wondered if anyone would question the soap. I am not prepared to provide evidence as to why it is commonly used. Since wood can harbor bacteria, I suppose someone thought a little soap might help. Also, soap is a surfactant and will help to wet the wood. I have no evidence to support either conjecture, but I really doubt that the soap will hurt the queen. The cell bars are polished by the bees overnight prior to grafting so there is little chance that soap residue will be present. Even if the soap were present in trace amounts, it is the soaps ability to wet the spiracles that causes injury to bees and other insects. Also, considering that I usually get over 90% of grafts to take and the bees emerge with vigor, I doubt that the soap is harmful.


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

I soak my wooden, queen cell cup, dipping tips in a mixture of purified water and some of the same water frozen into ice chips. They soak up the water just fine and if I dip them in the ice-water between dipping them in the liquid beeswax, the cups form quickly and are very firm and easy to remove from their wooden molds.


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## Aram (May 9, 2006)

Wow! I should have known there'd be questions I didn't even know I had. This is awesome! 
Thank you all,
Aram


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearingsimplified.htm#DippingCells

"I find the best cell for practical purposes is one whose size is between that of the inside of a natural queen-cell at it's largest place and the mouth of the cell, this being five-sixteenths of an inch as given above. In our early experience, many of us, enthusiastic in rearing larger queens, sought to accomplish this by making larger cells; but being large at the mouth, the bees were loath to accept them, and it took considerable work on their part to build them over to the size they should be." --Jay Smith, Queen Rearing Simplified


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## HVH (Feb 20, 2008)

Joseph Clemens said:


> I soak my wooden, queen cell cup, dipping tips in a mixture of purified water and some of the same water frozen into ice chips. They soak up the water just fine and if I dip them in the ice-water between dipping them in the liquid beeswax, the cups form quickly and are very firm and easy to remove from their wooden molds.


Good point - colder would be better.


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## maddrone (Apr 5, 2006)

*dowel size*

Go to youtube.com and you can see how the Argentinian Martin Brownstein is doing it,wich I personaly think it is great to use your own wax.He have the malka apiarie,and the information is in Three lenguages. I like his sistem because is very simple and you can do it in a country where you don't have the material so easy like here.
So go to Beekeeping section and you will see a lot of His job.


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## Aram (May 9, 2006)

THe youtube vids were the first inspiration to do try this. He certainly makes look easy (and efficient  )
Thanx
Michael thanx for the book link I'm printing it and reading it little by little. Great little book!


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