> Brian asks
>
> < So I'm interested to hear opinions of others on which system is the best
> and why.
>

The operative word in the question is "best."  Do you mean the best queens,
the best for the beekeeper producing 50 cells, for the beekeeper producing
cells for a week, or for producing thousands of cells over months?

I've visited a number of commercial producers, and tried many methods
myself.  I (or my wife, who used to run a crew placing purchased queen cells
into thousands of nucs) have seen many poorly-produced queen cells offered
for sale, and many beautiful, well-fed cells.

Re your question, there is often a tradeoff between quality and efficiency.
One can make more money by taking "shortcuts."

However, if one pays attention to detail, there are a number of methods by
which one can produce excellent cells.

Generally, one gets the best "take" of grafts with a queenless starter (some
form of swarm box or a Cloak Board division.  One can finish the cells with
either QL or QR finishers.  I personally prefer QR finishers, since they are
far less pissy, and don't produce as many volunteer cells, which can result
in loose virgins (and thus disaster).

The requisites for good cell production in both starters and finishers are:
1.  Young, well-fed larvae
2.  Plenty of well-fed nurse bees that have already been feeding young
brood.
3.  Plenty of quality pollen (some of the newer supplements can augment).
4.  Enough of a cluster for thermal mass in cold weather.

If your system supplies the above, the bees should produce good cells.  The
simplest indicator is whether the cells are large, and that a substantial
proportion have jelly left inside after the larva has spun its cocoon
(indicating that they were fed to excess).  I personally want my cell
finishers to be in swarming condition--generally producing swarm cells on
their own, which indicates that they are in the ideal condition to feed
inserted queen cells with gusto.  It is especially easy to produce excellent
cells during swarming season.

Once you get the hang of it, it is amazingly easy to produce good cells.  It
takes me a total time investment of about a half an hour to produce 40-50
excellent cells (perhaps a few more minutes the first round, less on
subsequent rounds from the same colony).   Practically, this means that I
cannot produce more than a few hundred a day without help--so you can see
why the large producers are forced to look for efficiencies.

Randy Oliver

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