Randy made a good comment on cell placement in regards to placing the cell right into the brood area. 

We have placed many cells between the top bars when we split in central Florida and the clusters were big and the nights warm. 
I would recommend to place them in the brood to hedge against a cool night. It's good insurance. 

I have held back queens in the incubator by lowing the temps to 92F or so.  One time I really lowered it to about 88F (about 15 years ago) to hold back surplus cells for new splits. Ouch....many hatched with no wings, as the wing buds did not pop out.

Here in the panhandle it has been the coldest winter in 35 years. We wrap all our cell builders with reflectix bubble wrap and cover the top with two layers to keep the heat in. Now it's warm enough to take them off.

Even though we do this, the hive temps must run a bit cooler, as the cells hatch almost two days later in cold weather as they do in very warm weather. It was very noticeable this year. 


 Kirk Jones

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