> Do others on the list candle cells? Have others heard of the candling of
> queen cells around the world?

I do it all the time.  I learnt the trick while visiting Homer Park in 1986.
I have passed it on to other queen breeders in Australia.

I am not looking for the movement but the shape of the pupae.  After a while
you get to tell the "normal" shape of the pupae.  Sometimes you break down a
good cell but that is a small price to pay to make sure that the cells you
put out look OK.  Usually if it is defective it is a "blob" in the bottom of
the cell.  Sometimes they look strange.  A couple of times, there have been
queens upside down in the cell i.e. head up towards the plastic end of the
cell.  We use plastic cell cups.

How many would I break down cells?  Less than 1%.  Do I miss some?  Yes, as
when catching queens from the mating nucs, occasionally there is a cell that
has not hatched.  In most of these cases, the pupae looks OK and is at a
stage where I estimate it should be hatching.  Why this happens I do not
know.

Martin Braunstein from Argentina has a good DVD out on his queen rearing
operation and in that you will see him candling the cells.  He actually goes
one step further and taps the cell.  The DVD is available for purchase.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA
Coming to Apimondia in Australia in 2007?

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