> I've wondered for long time about how much air or
> ventilation queen cells
> require, when holding them in an incubator or
> container.  The archives
> did't provide on this detail, and I was wondering if
> any one knows or
> knows of any literature on this.  The book THE HIVE
> AND THE HONEYBEE, and
> QUEEN REARING by H. Laidlaw didn't cover this.
> Briefly, one of my
> questions is how long can  cells be stored in a
> closed container or
> incubator before needing, if needed oxygen?  Any
> information on this would
> be appreciated.
>

I just built an incubator from an apartment sized
refridgerator for our queen raising operation we're
settng up at our new farm in the panhandle of Florida.

I used a small fan to circulate the air. David Miksa
from central Florida suggested that it is better to
keep one running. I found one in the McMasters
catalog. Not sure on the spelling. Anyway, they have
one for about $22 that only uses about 8 amps draw or
maybe less than that. It's about four inches square. I
bought some small steel angles from the hardware to
mount it. It runs all the time.

I used two high humidity, 3 degree differential
thermostats order from Grainger's for about $44 each.
If one fails the other will cut the heat. Then I used
two bulbs, so if one burns out the other will keep on
heating. I used a forty and a 8 watt bulb. Just
experimenting. It does keep the unit at 93 to 94
degrees F.

Can we start a new thread on the Jenter system? We are
going to graft, but I want to try the Jenter system
just for the heck of it. About four years ago we
grafted quite a few of our cells in Florida for hives
to go north to Michigan. We quit for awhile because we
didn't have our own place to set up a queen rearing
operation. Now we have our own farm and will set up a
queen grafting shed.

Kirk Jones  www.sleepingbearfarms.com

=====
Kirk Jones     www.benzieplayboyz.com
                    www.sleepingbearfarms.com

greetings from Northern Michigan!

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