# Promise this is my last graft



## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Hi, All!


Got some accepted queen cells planted into the pollen frames today.
Now is the time to test out how late it can be for some mated queen. The last
batch came out satisfactorily. So I like to try again since we have such a nice weather now.
I promise that this is my last graft for the season. Will see how many mated
queens will be home laying this time. Wish me luck!


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

You must have a nectar / pollen flow up there! 

Down here, the bees all go the the aluminum can recycler to drink Coca-Cola, grape soda, beer, Sprite, root beer, etc. The robbing screens have been on for a while now. 1 county away, there were 2-1/2" of rain that we did not get, which made for sage and buckwheat. It seems that it did not help the sumac much. We're hoping there is some rabbit brush flower, depends on rainfall at the exact locations and when.

Myself, I wouldn't waste bee resources on queens that have little chance to make it, grafting in September. I'd be feeding, trying to get the bees up to 130 lbs for a 2-box colony to overwinter.

My friends are losing so many bees right now, its quite alarming. It seems that many queens are individually healthy, but the drones they mated with had very few viable "bullets". The 5th "dry" year in a row makes it even worse. The lake is down below 40% capacity. That will take 3 or 4 consecutive "El Nino" year *with rain* to fill it up again.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Just 2-3 minutes bee flying time is a big long patch of the Autumn small white flower hedges blooming now. I saw
some bees there so might be my own. Because the patch is under a sprinkler system every year at this
time there will be a slight nectar flow until frost time. I don't feed my bees much here and no soda place for them to go either. 
There are 2 big gardens 5 minutes bee flying time from my bee yard. At this 
time the mustard and canola there are blooming. I saw lots of yellow pollen replenishing the pollen frames today.
So nectar and pollen is flowing steadily here. For some reason the local Loquat trees are blooming one month
earlier this year. Right now they are about to bloom too. This will add more to the flow and so is the hyacinth beans and 
edible (flowers) moon flowers. So this last batch of cells should be very well fed!
I don't anticipate a good mating but will try to see what local bee environment has changed over the years. Will supplement
feed them all winter long.


Edible moon flowers:


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Lucky bastard! Go for it!


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

Kilocharlie, you hit the nail on the head when talking about "viable bullets". I can still raise cells here but ultimately drones with viable sperm is needed. For this colonies need plenty of pollen.

Jean-Marc


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

I planted extra pollen frames including using the brood frames 
for them to collect more pollen since the early Autumn flow just started.
If they got mated this time then it will be an extra bonus. I will have some
overwinter queens to make the early Spring splits from. If they don't make it then
this is another failed bee experiment again. Since all the hives are maxed out
now I have to overwinter them in a 3 frames queen castle. Hate to see these rather
long and fat cells go to waste. They are cap almost 2-3 days ago.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Did you use head size restraint?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Nah, don't want any Zika small size head queens either.
Those will never find their way back on the mating flights.
Besides, it is all about genetics so that I cannot control much.
Sometimes I have to let go and let nature take its course. Too much
control will result in some weird looking queens like the one with the ladybug
black dots on the back. Just weird!!!!!


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

An update:


Out of 9 cells, 4 emerged. Got rid of 1 that did not fit into my breeding program.
3 look promising that 2 have the Cordovan color. Still waiting for 1 to see what she look like.
The daily high temp. has been changing fast toward the cooler side. If temp. keep at normal around 70s then the chance
of a mated queen is highly possible. Regret that I did not graft more of the Cordovan genetics. Oh well, there
will be another chance starting early next season.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Another update:

So this newly mated Cordovan daughter queen from the commercial operation has been laying for a month now. She is not from this last batch as they are still a virgin. She is gentle and a laying machine covering almost all empty cells so far. When there are not enough room she will even
lay in the drone comb too. Caught her today snooping and laying on the drone frame. At this late I'm hoping
to keep some overwinter drones. She doesn't seems to know what season we are in now since a 
newly mated queen will lay through out our mild winter here. The mite count is a bit high but I'm not
treating to see if she can make it over this winter. If she does then there is a chance to make her a breeder
queen this coming season.



Potential breeder queen:


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