Non Graft Queen Rearing
John Speckman
Shawnee, Kansas
Home 913-631-0991
Cell 816-810-5642
Raising Queens Using the
Jenter System
Why raise your own Queens
• Cost – Typical cost is around $20.00 - $25.00
• Advantage - Have extra queens avail if needed
• Proved Stock -Raise from you own “Good”
producing colonies.
• Mite and disease resistance
• Quality
Bees rear queens because of one of the
following conditions
Emergency.
Supersedure.
Swarming
We get the most cells and the best
feeding for the queens if we simulate
both Emergency and Overcrowding.
Jenter Queen Kit
The Jenter Method of Queen
Production
•
This system is used to produce young larvae to be
subsequently transferred to the cell starter.
• Equipment Needed:
The complete Jenter queen rearing kit
drawn brood frame or medium depth frame.
• Pre-Requisites:
Breeder queen
Cell starter colony / cell finisher colony
Mating nuc.
Step 1 Prepare Cell Frame
Insert all the cell plugs into the Confined Queen
Lay area of Frame
Step 2 – Prepare cell frame
(2) Days prior to confinement of queen in
Jenter frame
•Insert frame in colony so bees can polish
cells
Remove the complete cover so
bees can access cells to clean up.
Beekeeping Calendar Example
• Queen Rearing Calendar for
1/10/2015
Brought to you by “The Beekeepers of
the Susquehanna Valley”
www.thebeeyard.org
Day #
1
2
3
4
5
DOW
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Date
1/7
1/8
1/9
1/10
1/11
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
1/12
1/13
1/14
1/15
1/16
1/17
1/18
1/19
1/20
1/21
1/22
1/23
1/24
1/25
1/26
1/27
1/28
1/29
1/30
1/31
2/1
2/2
2/3
2/4
2/5
2/6
2/7
2/8
2/9
2/10
2/11
2/12
2/13
2/14
2/15
Task/Status
Notes
The egg is laid by the queen mother
Select or create a queenless cell builder colony
Graft the day-old larvae into cell cups, and insert into a queenless cell builder colony.
Check your grafts: the bees should have started to draw out the cells and feed the larvae with royal jelly.
If not, re-graft.
Queen cells are capped
Sensitive developmental phase - do not move cells and be very gentle when opening the hive.
Move the capped queen cells into mating nucs
Queens hatch
Discard any unhatched cells
Mating Flights
Check Nuc for eggs.
Check Nuc for larvae.
Larvae found? If so, the queen is ready!
Re-queen if no eggs are present.
Step 3 – Cage queen in frame
Day (0)
Catch queen, and place in enclosed cell frame, make
sure cover is on tight, and the queen excluder plug is
in place.
Caged queen should lay out enclosed cells in 24 hrs,
this is important , so will you know the age of larvae to
be grafted.
Step 4 – Release queen Day (1)
Day (1) for counting days till hatch (16)
days
You now want to remove cover of enclosed
cell unit and let queen and attendants rejoin
colony.
Step 5 – Prepare cell bars
1. Coat cell bars with thin layer of beeswax
2. Push cell base into the warm beeswax
3. Add a additional coat of beeswax around
the cell base. This will insure a good solid
seal to cell bar.
Step 6 – Make Up Cell
Starter/Finisher colony (Day 3)
• Shake or Brush bees from donor colonies.
Try and use bees from frames of eggs/larvae
(Nurse Bees)
• Frames of Honey & Pollen NO frames with
eggs or larva. NO queen.
• We add a feeder of syrup to the starter
colony to make sure they are well fed.
• We usually place this colony inside in a dark
area, using screen on bottom & top, this
helps to keep the bees calm prior to inserting
the cells
Step 7 – Day 4 (Transfer larvae
to Cell Cups)
• You can leave your starter box open to allow
bees to fly free,
• or you can contain bees using a double
screen on bottom and top, and place inside
in a dark room.
• We have started to confine the bees for the
first 24-36 hours, this has really helped the
first several grafts, as the weather in early
April can be unpredictable.
Step – Day 5/6 Check on cells
After the first 24-36 hours,,, the nurse
bees will be busy feeding the young
larvae
We have used the cell starter as the finisher
colony also, which has worked well for us.
An option would be to create a cell starter and
a finisher colony.
Day 12- Make Up Nuc’s
•
•
•
•
2- frames brood
Pollen/nectar
Feed????
Spray bees with sugar syrup to keep from
flying.
Baby Mating Nuc Box
2-way Med Super Nuc Box
Deep Nuc – 2way split
Day 13 – Pull/Set Cells in nuc’s
• Must pull cells on time no matter what
• Keep in mind .. The 13th day is very critical
to pull cells and place in nuc.
• If a queen hatches early… she will destroy
any remaining cells.
• Check the cells prior to placing in nucs
• An addition to the Jenter system, is a clear
plastic tube, which fits over the sealed queen
cell to allow the queen to hatch in the tube.
• This eliminates the issue of a queen hatching
early and destroying unhatched queen cells.
Missed cell / early hatch results
Comments on Nucs
• Make sure to provide feed if needed
• Do NOT Disturb bees
• Could be confined in dark room for 24-72 hrs
after inserting cell.
Day 28 1St Inspection
• Look for laying queen in nucs
• Can cage for install into other hive or leave
for 14 days to insure pattern of brood.
• Congratulations you have raised your 1st
batch of queens
References
• http://www.thebeeyard.org/queenrearing-calendar/
Blue Sky Beekeeping Supply—
www.blueskybeesupply.com