I went to an association meeting where they were teaching inspections and in addition to keeping one capped plus one uncapped queen cell they were also putting the occasional ones into mating boxes.
I'm a bit twitchy right now having been without any bees for a long time so I was wondering if I could do something along those lines as a backup colony.
I have a rehoused swarm which has one rogue shallow frame in the brood box
It grows lobes of comb very quickly
It's a nuisance for me to have to take it off and a wasted effort for the bees.
So If I got a queen cell on it ,I would shake off the flying bees and get the frame into my poly-nuc,then remove it when the colony is more up and running.
They would overwinter in this box too.
Am I on the right track or will some ecological disaster ensue?
I'm a bit twitchy right now having been without any bees for a long time so I was wondering if I could do something along those lines as a backup colony.
I have a rehoused swarm which has one rogue shallow frame in the brood box
It grows lobes of comb very quickly
It's a nuisance for me to have to take it off and a wasted effort for the bees.
So If I got a queen cell on it ,I would shake off the flying bees and get the frame into my poly-nuc,then remove it when the colony is more up and running.
They would overwinter in this box too.
Am I on the right track or will some ecological disaster ensue?