> Allen Dick wrote:
 
> >Splits are an easy way to introduce cells or queens compared to large
> >colonies.  The reduced populations accept queens better, and if you
> >can manage to have only young bees in the split, it will accept
> >queens better, although it may not do as well in the long run unless
> >recombined.
>
> Agree, but we are working to find ways to cut time. Making splits will take
> time and also mean you have to keep material just for that purpose, extra
> tops and bottoms. To make splits and leave in the same apiary means
> you will have all the field bees in one hive, so you should move them to
> next site you visit for best result. More work and time.
 
Well, we have to make up our losses and the easiest and best time to
do that is spring around here.
 
I wrote a long article a year or so ago that was posted here on this
topic, and should be available in the archives, but, we'll go on
from there and work on some of the other ideas.
 
About half our hives are strong enough to just split in two in early
May.  That means an increase of about 1/3 of total numbers.  That
just nicely compensates for the losses over the rest of the year.
 
ie: if I run 1500 colonies after splitting, by the next May, I will
be down to about 1000 colonies if I do no other splitting or increase
or maintenance. (And in a honey producing outfit in a short season
such as we have up here, we often just do our beekeeping once a year
- in the spring - and just do honey work untill fall - when it is too
late to try to rescue any that haven't measured up).
 
This is a rough approximation. We see about 20% of the *total*
colonies lost or combined over the summer and fall, and about 20% of
the remainder lost or worthless by May of the next year for various
reasons, meaning that about 64% survive over the whole year.
 
So for us there is no extra equipment required.
 
The splits we like best are simple: on a previous visit in April,
the hives are cleaned and reversed, if ready.  On the next visit, two
floors are placed in front of the existing hive and one empty brood
chamber is placed on each.  The top box of the hive is then placed
on one and the bottom on the other.  The bees split nicely between
the two new hives. if there are auger holes in all the boxes, it is
even better.
 
I'd better mention again that our criterion for splitting is bees on
the bottom of at least five frames and preferrably seven.  As I have
said here before, if we do not split at this time, we find that the
bees often dwindle to one box by late May and the potential is lost.
 
At this point, if cells are available, they are popped into each half
and left.
 
This whole process takes a couple of minutes for two people.
 
If queens are used, a return visit on the fourth day is the easiest
way to find the queen and introduce the new one.
 
The splits can also be removed to a new yard; however there is a
problem remembering which split came from which.  This won't matter
at all if you use cells in both halves, but if queens are to be
found - unless everything is carefully marked - you will likely have
to go through every box to some extent at least, instead of half of
them.
 
If you are like me, you will never be sure when you don't find a
queen in one split  that you haven't just missed her unless the other
half is handy for comparison during the first three days while eggs
are still present in each half.
 
Of course as the days go by it becomes more obvious which have and
which don't have queens, but the longer you wait to introduce the
new queen, the more likely that there will be cells and that may lead
to introduction failure, and the less time advantage an expensive
mated queen has over having just used a cell in the first place (on
the original visit).
 
Now with cells, there will be about a 20% failure rate.  This becomes
obvious after 11 days normally (more in bad weather).  However there
is a backstop:  if the  cell you put in doesn't work out, there will
likely be a emergency cells that will hatch and be laying in 21 days.
 
Now we all know that emergency cells can be risky for reasons that
have been well covered by Tom Taylor and others over the last year or
two, but in fact, they are often high quality - it just depends on
the season.  So you can choose whether to just let nature take its
course or try again with another cell.  We often just use the duds as
seconds on hives that have shrunk - there are always a few that do.
 
With queens, however it is much different.  If the first queen isn't
accepted, it is usually a waste of time and money to try again.  The
dud should be combined or shaken out.
 
Often mated queens will seem to be accepted and laying well on first
inspection, but be found missing a few weeks later.  We don't find
this usually with the queens that come from cells.
 
So, as I see it, to use queens, there is additional work, inasmuch as
the frames have to be removed and inspected for a queen several
times.  With cells, no inspection is required untill 11 days or more
later, and a glance will tell the tale.  No queens need ever be
located - or even seen.
 
Now as far as stock is concerned, a lot depends on your opinion of
your own stock and your opinion of the stock that others offer.
 
With mated queens, you are obtaining 100% outside stock.  This is
true at least in the cases where the new queen is not prompty
superceded with a new home grown queen - which happens more often
than many think, and results in a 50% change of stock.
 
If you buy cells, then you are getting a 50% change of blood, because
the drones will be your own or your neighbours'.  Or if you send the
cell raiser your own queens, then the eggs can come from your own
stock, and you get no new blood.
 
Is your own stock good?  Well we have a 33% attrition rate over the
year in our operation, and always select at least ten of the best
queens for raising cells - judged on winter survival of marked star
producers from the previous year, spring strength, and disease
resistance.  If a potential breeder stings on inspection, it is also
rejected.  Of course there are other criteria too, but you get the
idea...
 
I think his is pretty heavy selection pressure to adapt to our area
, our diseases, and our needs. I think our stock is pretty good.
 
That isn't to say, though that others don't have good stock, and we
always bring in a new breeder queen or two, or packages, or mated
queens to add to the pool.
 
My preference would be to have my own cells, from selected queens,
bred to my own random (or selected) drones.  My second chioce would
be to bring in cells from proven outside stock to mate with my own
drones.  My third choice would be to get mated queens from outside.
 
I'm concerned that many breeders do not place honey production first
in selection criteria.  To me it is the top priority.  I make my
living on it and a *10% increase* in production with no other input
changes will *double* my take home pay.
 
That isn't to say that all the other things don't matter.  They do.
If a hive is kilked by mites, it can't produce honey, so we
eliminate it from the breeding pool.  If a hive doesn't winter, well,
we can't breed from it.  If a hive dies of foulbrood, we have to
forget it.  Of course, it won't make much honey either.
 
If the bees sting everyone within 100 meters, then we can't manage
them or find yards for them, so they won't produce much either.
 
The biggest problem we have is that at the time when we need the
cells, our bees are not ready to raise queens.  We *can* raise good
cells, but it is a lot of work, and it sacrifices potential
producing colonies.  We have a small time window for splitting -
three weeks, maximum.  After the 20th of May, the splits likely will
not equal unsplit colonies in production.
 
Therefore, we are considering outside sources for queen cells this
year.  Our preference is for a breeder that will graft from our own
queens, but who is located in a n area where the season is a month
ahead of ours - like southern Ontario, Quebec, or British Columbia,
but we will consider some stock that has demonstarted some tolerance
to mites, and has other good characteristics.
 
I know there is some good stock in Ontario - I've had it before.
B.C.'s Vancouver Island is a potential source, however their bees
have been sheltered from mites and weather for a number of years now,
and I am leary of their stock - moreover they cannot accept any of
our stock because they are in a quarantine zone.
 
Unfortunately, at present we have no access to the USA, and Aus and
NZ are a problem in timing and transhipment.
 
Anyhow, this is getting long and rambling again and I have work to
do, so we'll pick this up later.
 
I'd like next to get into what we can and cannot do with ripe cells.
 
Later...
 
 
 
 
> >At $2 each, the cost compares to 12 minutes of work for someone being
> >paid $10 per hour.  To introduce mated queens in 12 minutes each,
> >considering preparation time, travel time, instruction, finding queens,
> >making errors, etc is difficult. (I'm sure I'll get some flack on
> >this, but I'll stand by it).
>
> Well, I'm not running a large operation, just 250 hives by myself. But let's
> look at the costs for me; to produce my own cells I need 1,5 minutes per
> cell. I take them out and pop them into the top of each hive at my normal
> visit with ten days interval for swarm checking/adding boxes. That extra work
> will take another minute. Let's say I need to find the queen in 20% of my
> hives, and I need 12 min per hive. That would add an average of 2,5 min to the
> time.That is 5 min per hive spent on requeening. With a success rate of more
> than 50%. And no extra equipment needed.
>
> I buy breeder queens from different sources and use different lines to create
> maximum heterosis effect in my produktion hives. But I'm not into queen-
> breeding and selection for breeding-stock (not yet). Then I will have to start
> using nucs or making splits.
>
> Regards   P-O
>
>
Regards
 
Allen
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                                         VE6CFK
RR#1, Swalwell, Alberta  Canada T0M 1Y0  Internet:[log in to unmask]
Honey. Bees, Art, & Futures <http://www.cuug.ab.ca:8001/~dicka>