"Congratulations! Ain't it exciting to raise your own queens? With a bit
more practice, you should be hitting at least 90% take, although you will
likely find that some cell starter colonies perform much better than others."
Exciting isn't the word. Yesterday, I went out to check on the capped cells. There were 11 remaining; apparently, they cut down a few from the original batch, which was/is fine for me, because I did not have room for 17 virgin queens. BUT, I found that the wax caps had already been removed from most of the cells, which I was not expecting, based on my calendar/schedule. So, I hustled to make up more mating nucs. Now, it was 1730 in the late afternoon / early evening after a cool, showery (0.10 inches) day with some robbing going on and hives full of ticked off bees. How's that for timing? As I pulled frames from my volunteer hives, I was covered in VERY unhappy bees. It reminded me of those videos I have seen of Dee Lusby's bees being worked. I have to say that my UltraBreeze suit worked perfectly (Poor Bill, may he rest in peace and enjoy working healthy, happy bees, wherever he is). Took one sting on the ankle, because I did not bother to put on my boots before going out. Don't even see it or feel it this morning.
It was a real rush job to get the nucs set up and the cells in place (no time for the nucs to settle before adding the cells, since I am on the road for the next couple of days and we have the same weather predicted, anyway). Will see how things go. Not how I wanted to do it, but it's funny how life does that to you. I haven't had my heart pound when working the bees in a while, but trying to move quickly, yet precisely, while sweating profusely and with a veil covered in bees, well, it was, let's say, invigorating.
Note to self: Grafting late in the season is fine for learning how to do it, but not so good for actually raising queens. The good news is that, whatever the outcome, next year I should be able to hit the ground running.
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Bill Greenrose
Claremont, NH
+43.35687 +43° 21’ 25”
-72.3835 -72° 23’ 01”
CWOP: D5065
Weather Underground: KNHCLARE3
HonetBeeNet: NH001
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