On Sun, 19 May 2013 23:04:39 -0400, James Fischer <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>The only problem is that many (most?) frames with sealed brood will also
>have open brood, and incubation would kill the open brood.  I can't imagine
>a 4-lb package being able to thermo-regulate enough brood to give you many
>full frames of sealed brood until...

Good Point:
  My thinking was that using 6 1/4" frames and including Some nurse bees (guessing about 10% of normal amount) in the incubator with the sealed brood & feed would ameliorate the problem of, among other things, open larvae.  The age of the brood on shorter frames would be more uniform and the nurses should be able to care for a few open larvae; if not, the number lost should be few, and colonies have much less invested in open brood than in newly emerged workers.
The advantage would be that the area the colony can thermo-regulate would be largely open brood. 
**Is this making any sense??**  

>It might be easier to just use NWC queens.  They are very quick to build up
>in spring, and make good use of feed and protein supplements in early
>spring.

Good Suggestion:
 I must say, the packages and queens we've been getting here have almost always looked Very Good. 3 folks, Peterson, Malone, Vickers, each bring in 2 or 3 shipments and distribute them. 
However, genuine NWC queens haven't been part of the mix. It's been Italian, Russian/Carniolan, Webster's Vermont.  Any NWC breeder recommendations?

Tnx!
rB

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html