hi barry
In New Zealand I use a variation of this system. the queen is
confined to the bottom box below an excluder the second box contains a frame
of capped brood a gap for the graft and a frame of pollen and a feeder the
reast of the box is filled with honey and empty combs.
the day befor the graft the hive is fed syrup and a frame of 30 plastic
queen cups ( to condition )
The morning befor the graft the boxs are reversed and the excluder
replaced with a split board ( hard board mat with 50mm entrance to the back)
grafting into the bottom box can be done after half an hour. feed & close
up.
12 hour later reverse the boxs , old queen to the bottom, queen excluder
and grafted cells up stairs with another litre feed of syrup. 9 days later
hey presto 25 to 30 nice cells.
I do this to 5 hives a day every second day to requeen my 700 hives each
year
shaun cranfield
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Auckland