As stated in an earlier post:
My 8 year old son, Jared, and I are
doing an experiment currently to see
if we have (or have not) correctly
determined a way to send queen cells
through the United States Postal system
 with a HIGH degree of emergence
upon planting them in nucs/hives
upon arrival at their destination.   All
50 cells involved were grafted off
same AI queen on the same day (14
May).  Jared grafted part of the cells.
 
 
We have a control group consisting of
10 cells of which 8 have been in
electric incubator
(92-94 degrees Fahrenheit approx 50+% humidity)
since day 7 (days counted since grafting)
- the other 2 were in a "incubator hive"
until day 10 then moved into electric incubator.
All cells referred to as the "elec" group
were in electric incubator since day 7 (21 May)
except during their 24 hour at room temperature
phase of the test.   All cells referred to as
"hive" were in the incubator hive until day 10
and likewise until they recieved their 24 hour
at room temp treatment.  10 day means
the cells at the 10 day after grafting stage
were placed on room temp bookshelf
for 24 hours then placed back into
electric incubator to test emergence
(incubator simulating the cell being
planted in a nuc/hive after being shipped
via USPS).  11 day means they recieved
the 24 hour room temp treatment 11 days
after grafting and were then returned to electric
incubator.
 
 
Because we use Chinese grafting tools we
are able to graft exceedingly small (young)
 larvae which accounts for the emergence
time of even the control group cells.
 
 
Incubator hive = marked queen and some
brood below excluder - cell bars between
brood (two or more frames of brood on
each side of cell bar frame) above excluder.
 
 
We wish we had a full 10 elec and
10 hive in the control group but we ended
up needing more cells to make splits
leaving but 50 instead of 60 cells
left.  We hope this will suffice in the
 control group to give us an accurate
indication though we recognize it could
have been better.
 
 
Note control of variables - like all being
grafted off same AI queen (helping
control for genetic variation), sample size
of 10 each per type of incubation used in
a group of  20 per "shipment simultation" timing.
 
 
                           (emerged to this point/total in group)
  27 May  1997                 7am      9am   5pm   9:30pm
  Total - all treatments  -  7/50     9/50    12/50    20/50
  Control - elec---------------  1/8       1/8      1/8        3/8
  Control - hive---------------- 1/2       1/2      1/2        1/2
  10 day - elec---------------- 2/10      2/10     2/10     3/10
  10 day - hive---------------- 0/10      1/10     1/10     3/10
  11 day - elec---------------- 2/10      3/10     3/10     4/10
  11 day - hive---------------- 1/10      1/10     4/10     6/10
 
 
 28 May 1997                 12:20am  7:18am   3pm     3:40pm
 Total - all treatments---   24/50      29/50     37/50     38/50
 Control - elec--------------     6/8         6/8         6/8         6/8
 Control - hive--------------     1/2         1/2         2/2         2/2
 10 day - elec---------------    4/10        6/10       9/10       9/10
 10 day - hive---------------    4/10        5/10       5/10       6/10
 11 day - elec---------------    4/10        6/10       6/10       6/10
 11 day - hive---------------    9/10        7/10       9/10       9/10
 
 
                                                                     29 May
1997
 28 May 1997                 8:22pm     11pm /  6:56am  3:26pm
 Total - all treatments---   39/50      39/50     41/50     42/50
 Control - elec--------------     6/8         6/8         6/8         6/8
 Control - hive--------------     2/2         2/2         2/2         2/2
 10 day - elec---------------    9/10        9/10       9/10       9/10
 10 day - hive---------------    7/10        7/10       8/10       9/10
 11 day - elec---------------    6/10        6/10       7/10       7/10
 11 day - hive---------------    9/10        9/10       9/10       9/10
 
 
                                                        30 May 1997
29 May 1997                  6:58pm  /   7:04am
 Total - all treatments---   42/50      42/50
 Control - elec--------------     6/8         6/8
 Control - hive--------------     2/2         2/2
 10 day - elec---------------    9/10        9/10
 10 day - hive---------------    9/10        9/10
 11 day - elec---------------    7/10        7/10
 11 day - hive---------------    9/10        9/10
 
 
 
I suspect that the remainder of the cells may not emerge
though I am certain Jared will continue to check on them
today and perhaps tomorrow.  Jared is doing this
experiment for his Science Fair Project for this coming
Fall (side benefit of helping Dad).   Obviously if this was
done at a University more consistent time intervals for
checks would have been implemented.  For our purposes
however even just one check at the end would have sufficed.
Once Jared (8 years old) figures out that the remaining cells
are unlikely to emerge I will suggest we open them up and
look at them and see if they developed fully or not.  I will
report on that as well.
 
 
From this initial phase of the experiment it appears that
sending either 10 or 11 day cells (counted from graft date)
"Overnight Mail" for installation within 24 hours from the
time we pull them out of incubator (hive or electric) - thus
here that means about 2:30pm since our Post Office truck
comes at roughly 4pm and missing the pick-up would leave
the cells setting there for another 24 hours.  The cells
should get to most USA Post Offices by the next morning
and the beekeeper would need to have made arrangements
for his/her Post Office to call and let them know they are in
(so they don't get put in the delivery vehicle and toted about).
Thus the timing would have to be such that the beekeeper
had the ability on arrival date to plant the cells immediately
on arrival (or at least put them in a incubator on his/her end
to hold them for planting later that day).
 
 
Next phase (when we have another 50-60 extra cells) will
consist of actually shipping without any temperature
regulation both 10 & 11 day cells.  They will be shipped
from a nearby Post Office that is not our own (to insure
they actually get put through the system).
 
 --
 Jack  Griffes
 Country Jack's Honeybee Farm
 Honeybee Improvement Program
 Horseshoeing by Jack Griffes
 Ottawa Lake, MI 49267
 USA
 Web site  http://www2.netcom.com/~griffes/
 Much thanks to the person much more clever than myself that suggested the
 following spam defeating method of listing my e-mail address.
 e-mail:   Griffes at ix dot netcom dot com