# Cloake Board with Nicot System



## phopkinsiii (May 4, 2014)

For my first attempt at queen rearing, I've decided to try the Nicot system.
I have 2 hives, one of them strong and growing. This hive consists of 2 deep hive bodies without a queen excluder. We will be getting a strong honey flow in the next couple of weeks (palms and palmettos).
Has anybody tried the combination of a Cloake Board and the Nicot Queen Rearing System?
Please let me know if you have any comments or suggestions on the plan:

Day -2; Use the Cloake Board to create the cell starter colony-crowded upper box with lots of nurse bees and no open brood, queen in the bottom box.
Day -1; Install the floor board for the CB and open the rear entrance forcing many of the returning field bees into the upper box. The upper box is now crowded and queenless. Place the Nicot in the upper box for 'warming'.
Day 0; Catch the queen in the lower box and put her in the Nicot. Install the Nicot with the queen in the upper box.
Day 1; Release the queen from the Nicot to the lower box. The sliding floor of the CB remains in place and the upper box remains a queenless cell starter.
Day 4; Remove the Nicot and transfer the larvae in the cell cups to the cup fixtures on the cell bar and place it in the upper box cell starter
Day 5; Convert the Cell Starter to a queen-right cell finisher by removing the sliding floor board on the CB
Day 10; Transfer capped cells in cell protectors to mating nucs.
etc.
Thanks.


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## MTN-Bees (Jan 27, 2014)

A couple of things. 
Are you confident you can find, catch, and place the queen in the Nicot box? Last season I kept the queen in a Nuc box so she was easier to find. This year I have breeder hives.
Read the instructions for the Nicot box and follow them. Your schedule is different then the Nicot I use.
The Nicot box should be placed in the hive so the Nicot has the hive odor on it.


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## phopkinsiii (May 4, 2014)

MTN-Bees said:


> A couple of things.
> Are you confident you can find, catch, and place the queen in the Nicot box? Last season I kept the queen in a Nuc box so she was easier to find. This year I have breeder hives.


I'm pretty confident. The queen is marked and if the Cloake Board works as intended, there should be a lot fewer bees in the bottom box. If I can catch her earlier, I may cage her.


MTN-Bees said:


> Read the instructions for the Nicot box and follow them. Your schedule is different then the Nicot I use.
> The Nicot box should be placed in the hive so the Nicot has the hive odor on it.


The instructions that came with my Nicot were pretty short on detail, so I read Nicot Queen Rearing  by Gillard. He does recommend building the cell starter on Day -5, or 5 days before placing the queen in the Nicot. Is that how your instructions differ. Some seem to compress that time to 24 hours, but I'd be happy to have a little flexibility.

Thanks for the suggestions.


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## Jlberry (Dec 11, 2014)

Just started this routine and now have eggs in the finisher with Cloake board removed. I did not rotate the bottom box and probably made some other mistakes but the bees may overcome my lack of experience.
I found the DVD by David Eyre very helpful. I'm a first year beek with three hives and wanted to try queens while we have a good flow.
Have you read Sue Colbe's papers on using the Cloake?

Also, ran across information on converting a bottom board to double entry. Either end can be used as an entry, just block the one you don't want used. No rotating heavy hives and upsetting the bees! I definitely plan to do this.

Keep us posted on your progress.


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## phopkinsiii (May 4, 2014)

Thanks for the info. I'll check out the DVD and papers.
My progress...zilch.:waiting:
I started the process with the CB and think that part worked pretty well-lots of bees in the top box. Unfortunately, when I opened the hive to move the queen to the Nicot, and brood up to the top box, there was very little brood and I couldn't see any eggs (not great at this). I found the queen, but because she wasn't marked, I didn't know if she was the original or not. I'm not sure whether they swarmed, were just taking a break, superseded the old queen or what.
Anyway, I returned the hive to the original condition and will check again in a week or two. The hive looks very active and they're still bringing in pollen. Unfortunately, our main honey flow ends this month, so it may not be a good time for queen rearing--maybe next spring.
On the plus side, I was able to mark the queen so I'll know if she survived or not.


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## Jlberry (Dec 11, 2014)

Quoting my post in another thread....
Nicot w/Cloake board: Checked for drawn cells today (Weds), no joy. 10 cups with eggs were loaded in the queen cell frame on Sunday. I learned a lot on this shake-down cruse. What worked: I did get the whole kit working, eggs laid, queen still living! The excluder did its job, the divider seemed to do it's job though I didn't get the timing just right - inserting too late and pulling it too quickly I think. The bees seemed to go along with the whole efffort, piling in the fixture with the queen, covering the frame, etc. 

Some things I did that will likely do differently:
I used a Cloake board and opted not to reverse the bottom box. I choose not to do that because of the mood of the bees and fear of dropping a full box or knocking over the blocks the hive stands on. Working alone, first time, etc.
Before the next attempt I will modify a screened bottom board with openings on both ends and use a wooden entrance excluder to block the appropriate entrance as I move through the steps. I may make that a modification to all my bottom boards if I like the results. Why pick up heavy brood boxes, disturb the bees, risk other problems when all you have to do is orient two sticks?
I will start "curing" the fixture sooner if it's a new Nicot. One day is probably fine if the Nicot is propolized and has the bee smell! However, moving to a new hive & queen might warrant an extra day???
I will wait until the bees are feeding larvae before I move the cups. I think this was my biggest mistake, I moved ten cups with eggs to the cell frame before proof the bees had accepted the eggs. David Eyre warned of this on his video and I just failed to remember it's importance.

I plan to wait a couple of weeks and give it another shot. I'm not concerned about the time of year or whether we are in a flow at the time. I want to get through the process and work out a good plan that I can repeat. As long as I get queen cells drawn and queens out of their cells I'll be happy. If they mate successfully and I get a few good nucs I'll be blessed.


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