>One method I started 3 weeks ago was to locate a frame of brood with young
>eggs and larva.  I took this frame and after making sure the queen wasn't
on
>the frame I moved it above the brood nest with a queen excluder between the
>two.  9 days later I came back to see if any queen cells were started and
sure
>enough there was one beauty...
 
Well, the chance of getting a queen mated in that hive and laying by this
method is very low, as far as I know from reading.  Of course I did not
believe what I read and tried introducing cells above excluders anyhow.
What I had read turned out to be true.
 
Maybe you want to remove the cells and use them elsewhere?  Then this is an
inefficient way to raise queens, especially if you are finding they get
attached in ways that result in destruction.  Using any of the methods of
getting cells built from using cups to cutting the edge of a foundation full
of larvae would be an improvement, but if you want to raise queens, then
there is no substitute for doing it right..
 
>I have ordered 20 3 # packages of bees with a queen from a honey producer
in
>Utah.  I will drive up to Utah and bring back the packages, then divide
those
>into smaller nucs and put a queen cell with each one to get more nucs for
my
>money.  ...By getting 20 3# packages I should obtain 60 1# nucs or 120 1/2#
nucs.
 
 
Packages are running against time, especially if you happen to get packages
with older bees, which is not uncommon.  Using a cell is a good way to waste
the expensive bees you purchase.  Cells take time to mate and get laying;
best case is about 11 days.  On the other hand, a laying queen dumped in
when installing packages will be laying in a day or two.  If you are working
against time, and you are if you are going for buildup, don't scrimp on the
queen.
 
>I also hope to experiment with a multi queen system.  By this, I plan to
>continue taking bees I shake from my strong hives on a periodic basis, add
a
>queen cell and develop them as nucs.  Some I will develop in full hive
bodies
>with dividers to give me 2, 3 and 5 frame nucs per hive body; some I will
>develop above an existing hive with a queen excluder between them.  When I
get
>close to a honey flow I plan on stacking multiple nucs on top of each other
to
>form a stronger hive for the honey flow.
 
I doubt you will have as many bees or as good bees as you would if you let
them build up and only split when they up to got to a full standard standard
super of bees or so.
 
>It therefore seems to me that the later you start in the season developing
>nucs the more one can compensate for the lack of egg laying by using
multiple
>queens in one or more systems.  I am not addressing the economics of these
>practices at this time only the theory I plan to explore.
 
 
Theory is what it is.  For one thing, queens do not lay at the thoretical
rate continuously.  They take weeks off sometimes and  at other times may
proceed at reduced rates.  Moreover, each manipulation disrupts the
development of the hives.  Bees don't read the bee books.  Unfortunately, in
real life, the results are not the sum of all the theoretical possibilities,
but interactions and limitations and Murphy figure largely.
 
These are very bold approaches you are attempting and they may work once in
a long while.  However, just as they say there are old pilots and bold
pilots, but no old bold pilots, you will find that the survivors in
beekeeping are pretty conservative in how they manage their bees.  They
choose approaches that work every time over ones that should theoretically
work.  My advice: throw out your books and find a successful commercial
beekeeper locally and pester him/her with questions and your plans.  I am
sure will get an amused smile and tolerant advice as to what is the least
disasterous route.  Every beekeeper has tried to push bees beyond their
limits.
 
Personally, I figure I can say this because I've paid my dues -- over and
over.  FWIW, I just finished cleaning up the mess made by my latest
brainwave a couple of years ago where I figured I could make some late
season splits because they had worked the year before -- in a much different
year.  Four hundred spits were made by dividing strong producing colonies in
two after the main flow.  Unfortuunately neither the splits or the parent
colonies wintered well, and there was a lot of loss.  Shoulda worked,
though...
 
Sadder but wiser.
 
>I have a great desire to expand my inventory of hives, but my financial
>resources are limited.  There exits a catch 22.  If I divide my exiting
hives
>to make increase (beyond the standard divide of one hive into two hives and
>add a queen to the queenless hive) I sacrafice honey production on the
other
>hand my growth is slow if I go for honey production and limit my divides.
I
>believe I can have both by raising queens, manage their egg laying and then
>reorganize these nucs into strong hives before the honey flow.
 
If your plan is workable, then there will be somone nearby who is doing it.
Check out the beekeepers in your neighbourhood.  Personally I think it is a
prescription for lots of sweat, reduced profits, and wintering disaster, but
I've been wrong before.  Sometimes the slower way is the faster.  Haste
makes waste.
 
>It is my desire to increase my hives to 250 this
>season then to 1,000 by next year.  (By the way, I build all of my own
>equipment in my shop.  I have access to lots of cheap wood for frames and
hive
>parts, with the equipment to finger joint lumber together to make hive
bodies.
>My biggest need is bees.)
 
Some package producers will sell you bees on a crop share basis or in return
for honey at extracting time.  Ask around.  If they think you have a chance
of success, they will back you and help you.  If they don't think you will
succeed, then re-evaluate your plans.  After all, package producers are
experts in buildup and know the limits.  They will tell you, if you ask.
 
I can see you are hot and raring to go, and wish you luck.  I hope you start
to spend lots of time with old timers in the business and listen carefully
to their tales and advice.  It will save you wasted years, anguish and
possible bankruptcy.  The road from back lot to commercial is fraught with
hazards and surprises and you'll need good friends in the business.  I think
you've read enough. Time to throw away the books, turn off the computer, get
out your ABJ or Bee Culture, find people advertising things in the
classifieds or in the directory, call them up arrange to visit, and spend a
lot of time in other people's honeyhouses or kitchens listening to things
you may not want to hear.
 
As I see it anyhow.
 
Best of luck.
 
Allen