CARRICELL - A CONVENIENT TOOL FOR REQUEENING
IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Part One by John Dobson
Beekeeping, along with other primary industries, is having to keep up with
the times. We need to use cost and time saving techniques and approach the
craft more from a business perspective rather than a life style. The spin
off is, of course, the more efficient and soundly based the business becomes,
the better the lifestyle is!
I think beekeepers are receptive to this thinking. They seem to share an
inclination to look at a job and think, “there must be a better way”.
Gadget competitions, beekeeper’s back yards and beekeeper designed equipment
are a testimony to this innovative way of thinking.
Everyone knows that regular requeening of your hives pays handsome dividends
by way of increased production and disease resistance. When I started my
beekeeping business, it wasn’t long before I was taking a good hard
look at carrying queen cells. I wanted a carrying system that was lightweight,
easy to use, provided a constant temperature, protected the cells, didn’t
stir up bees in hives or mating nucs and didn’t sting! I had some experience
with electronics and started experimenting. With the help and advice of an
electronics engineer, the concept of a portable cell incubator began to take
shape.
It took quite a few months to fine tune the workings, but the new portable
cell incubator soon became an essential part of my production process. The
more I used it, the more I appreciated its advantages - and the more I felt
other beekeepers would be interested. Eventually the name Carricell was coined,
and 14 years ago I advertised them for sale. Since then I have made some
improvements in the operating efficiency and have produced a 70 cell unit
and a 144 cell unit.
Today I can confidently say the Carricell is ideal for advanced cell incubation
and transporting. It is lightweight, efficient, reliable and user friendly
to both bees and beekeeper.
So what is it? How does it do the job so well? Basically, it is
a well made, insulated, pressed steel tool box divided horizontally. The
base is fitted with heating elements, electronic temperature controller and
power connection. A hole-punched foam tray and digital thermometer are in
the top. Power is supplied from a vehicle accessory (lighter) socket or direct
from a 12 or 24 volt battery. An adapter enables connection to a battery
charger or transformer. Power use is minimal, drawing only 2 amps intermittently.
The Carricell has been specifically designed for the job and tested by the
inventor / maker. I know it works well, because I use it a lot, and so do
many other forward thinking bee farmers.
In fact, I use a Carricell at every stage of my queen bee production. Cells
are out of reach of bees, but are readily accessible to the beekeeper. Up
to 70 or 144 cells are handled quickly in one movement, and because each
cell is individually protected, any emerging queens have no chance of reaching
other cells - a big plus when you are pushed for time.
Is it worth the cost? This is something each beekeeper needs to
weigh up. If you have just a few hives or use few queen cells, then probably
not. When your cell use is counted in 50s or 100s, if you produce your own
cells or queens, and if you regularly requeen with advanced queen cells,
then I would suggest that using a Carricell is definitely a “must have
tool.” The savings in your time, the ease of use and lessening of work
stress gives the surety of protection for your unhatched queens. This makes
a Carricell worth much more to your business than your initial outlay.
CARICELL - EASY-CARE REQUEENING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Part Two by John Dobson
What used to be a difficult and time consuming job has become a quick and
simple one for many bee farmers.
Cells are introduced without de-queening.
Some years ago I decided to take the advice of an elderly beekeeper acquaintance
and requeen my hives using 10 day protected queen cells. The cells are introduced
around the end of the honey flow without first dequeening. This method induces
a natural queen supercedure at a time of year when the weather is usually
settled and bees will readily accept a new queen. If nectar is still coming
in, I simply place a protected cell into the center of the third (honey)
box. If the flow has finished, honey has been removed, or the hive looks
hungry, it is essential to feed. In this case I place the protected cell
between two outside frames near a feeder with a full 4 liters of syrup.
It is important to use cells which will hatch the following day to allow
the virgin time to become established in the hive and build up her strength
while workers are busy storing their feed. This is also why I prefer to place
cells away from the brood area and the old queen.
I requeen all of my hives every year and consistently achieve 80% or more
new queens. Any misses are replaced before winter with a caged queen. Other
beefarmers in New Zealand are convinced easy-care requeening is the way to
go, - “Why take 20 hours to do a job that can be done in 5?”
Takes about 2 minutes per hive.
Although I describe myself as basically ‘lazy’ (ie I like to work
efficiently and have time to do other things) I manage to requeen 130+ hives
a day on my own. It takes about 2 minutes per hive for the whole procedure.
Some bee farmers do up to 300 cells per day, with an extra person helping.
One bee farmer uses brown packaging tape to protect his cells and introduces
them into the center of the brood box just below an excluder. Late summer
to early fall is the preferred time - just as the flow is starting to ease
off. He sometimes introduces cells when he is taking off honey, otherwise
he leaves the hives 2 - 3 weeks before removing the honey. He has produced
his own cells but this fall used commercially supplied 10 day cells for the
bulk of his requeening. He has tried this method of requeening in the spring,
but found it was not as successful.
Another bee farmer says finding and killing old queens and replacing them
with caged ones used to be the worst job on his apiary calendar, but this
season he requeened 80% of his hives in a very short time with very little
pressure. Using cells wrapped with tin foil the previous night, he and an
employee requeened 140 hives per half day.
He used commercially supplied cells, “to save employing an extra staff
member to produce them.” He took honey off during the late flow and
introduced protected 10 day cells into the middle of the top brood box. He
prefers to place cells in the brood area so there is no risk of chilling
during the cooler nights.
A natural method bees are happy with.
He completed his requeening over 2-3 weeks and intended using mated queens
before winter to replace any misses. He also set up 180 splits which achieved
95% successful mating. He is confident that easy-care requeening will benefit
his bees.
“It’s a natural method the bees are happy with.”
Each of these bee farmers uses a Carricell portable incubator to transport
queen cells to their apiaries. There are many methods of requeening, and
in a commercial situation, easy-care or induced Fall supercedure can have
considerable advantages. However, the bee farmer does take on some risks
when using queen cells rather than caged queens, such as unsuccessful mating
or lost queens. Also, half the genetic make-up of the offspring will be from
his or her own drones, and if the bee stock needs drastic improvement, caged
queens will give quicker results.
Easy-care requeening has apparently been around for quite a while. It is
increasingly being recognized as a simple, effective system that saves a
great deal of time.
CARRICELL - REQUEENING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Queen Cell Incubation
Part 3 by John Dobson
Continuing on from the previous 2 articles, I want to talk about queen
cell incubation. I’ve been producing around 10,000 queen cells per season
in New Zealand, for the last 12 years. In this time I’ve tried and tested
many different methods of producing cells.
Every season when I think that I’ve ‘arrived’ with the perfect
method, I learn something new and make changes to the system in order to
produce the highest quality cells possible.
Harvesting capped queen cells on the 5th or 6th day after the larvae transfer
procedure, has proved to be an invaluable contribution to the cell production
schedule. It allows me to do the larvae transfer into the same cell builder
on the same day each week, with some room for flexibility in timing.
The queen cell incubation is an important part in my system. It consists
of 2 incubators: the Carricell previously described, and a 4 cubic foot cabinet
incubator - the latter being an old converted 4 cu. foot refrigerator fitted
with extra racks for the foam trays holding queen cells. The low voltage
flat heating elements are controlled by an electronic temperature controller
and powered by mains power. Above the custom made flat heating elements I
place 2 x 2 liter containers of water, which provides the necessary relative
humidity for the pupating queens. The temperature is set at 90° F/32°C.
The 5-6 day old capped cells are harvested into the Carricell in the bee
yard, the foam tray in the Carricell is transferred into the cabinet incubator
and labeled with the date for use, or dispatch for sale. Up to 10 foam trays
of cells at various stages can be stored in the cabinet at any one time,
allowing a maximum of 1440 cells. Extra foam trays are required for holding
the cells in the cabinet incubator during the queens pupating period.
The system is very convenient and easy to use: there are less problems
with rogue virgins causing havoc, and a simple, quick turn around period
for the cell builder. Larvae transfer can be carried out on a 6 or 7 day
cycle in the cell builder, so there is flexibility in timing there as well.
When the cells are old enough to use, I simply preheat the Carricell for
15 minutes, then transfer the foam trays of cells from the cabinet incubator
into the Carricell. Then I’m ready to go out placing cells in nucs or
hives. A few local bee farmers prefer to come and collect their cells, some
coming up to 300 kilometers .
Transferring cells to clients.
Most of the cells produced are sold to clients within the North Island of
New Zealand, and to bee farmers who use a Carricell portable incubator for
transporting cells to hives or nucs. For transporting the 10 day old cells
to our clients (who usually buy in lots of 50,70,100 or 140 per time) we
use a styrene cooler. This has a bright red vinyl dispatch bag with an address
label, description of goods, and instructions for handling, fitted into a
clear sleeve, on top of the package. Inside the cooler (‘chilly bin’
in NZ) there is a muslin cloth basket stuffed with polyester fiber, which
the cells are close-packed into, standing vertically. Under the basket is
a small square drink bottle filled with hot water. This is held firmly in
place with two pieces of foam.
What I’ve described is another form of cell incubation which carries
advanced cells to our clients’ city or town. These Polypacks as we call
them, are given to the driver of the Intercity Coach service for careful
handling. They travel on their luxury coach to the destination closest to
the client’s home or base operation. The client is advised prior to
the dispatch of his or her order, and is waiting to meet the coach when it
arrives. The longest period of travel for the cells is approximately 9 hours.
By this time the hot water in the Polypack has cooled down, and the cells
need transferring into the Carricell portable queen cell incubator. The cells
are then transported to the hives or nucs. Often many kilometers are traveled
to reach the hives where the cells are going to be placed. If the cells arrive
with the client later in the day, then keeping them overnight in the Carricell
for use the next day is quite normal.
As you can see, the incubating and transportation of cells has helped me
develop a system within our business which is very convenient, easy to manage
and very enjoyable to use.
In the next part in this series of articles I will be describing my current
method of raising cells.
CARRICELL - REQUEENING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Current Cell Raising Method
Part 4 by John Dobson
This article is a continuation of 3 previous articles relating to the Carricell,
easy-care re-queening, and cell incubation.
Every year I think that I’ve ‘arrived’ at the best method
that suits me for raising queen cells. However, every season there seems
to be some enlightenment on a part of the system that invariably causes me
to make changes. Higher quality cells and a simpler easier system to operate
generally result, but not always!
I’ve been producing around 10,000 cells every season for the last
12 years, most of which are sent off to buyers in the North Island of New
Zealand, which is where I happen to live.
We use some of our cells for mated queen sales and some for re-queening 180
honey production hives. Many of our clients use protected cells for annual
re-queening and achieve approximately 80% positive results. By using the
easy-care requeening method, as described in Part 2 of this series, the time
and effort saved in not having to look for the old queens every two years
is easily off-set by requeening with protected cells.
Also, the lower cost of buying or producing cells, and the time saved in
looking for the queens, are definitely measurable advantages. When easy-
care requeening is performed during, or near the end of the honey flow, better
results are achieved by the natural supercedure mode that takes place in
the colony.
Now for the production of cells. I use 72 complete hives for starting and
finishing cells. The 2 box hive is split horizontally with a wire grid queen
excluder that has a pheromone excluder (3mm hardboard 390 x 310mm) attached
to it, either by tie wire or small screws with fender washers & nuts.
The important part is the space around the edges of the hardboard for the
bees to travel through from bottom to top box.
The frame with 2 cell bars and 22 cups goes in the bottom box between 2 frames
of sealed brood, 2 frames of pollen and honey and an internal syrup feeder.
The young queen is in the top box above the excluder and pheromone baffle,
with the rest of the brood. A small top entrance under the lid allows for
drones to escape being caught in the excluder. I have a frame type syrup
feeder in both top and bottom boxes. Every week when the cell cups with larvae
are introduced into the bottom box, 1 liter of syrup is fed to each of the
boxes. Also, a small amount of bee-pro (protein supplement) is added on the
top bars beside the frame of cells.
Even though our bees have access to good pollen supplies (gorse and broom
in spring) I feel that supplementary feeding is important to producing good
quality queen cells. Producing cells using the method I’ve described,
utilizes the bottom part of the hive, where all the activity from the foraging
bees is more evident. I know that top quality cells can be produced early
in spring, because the cell producing section of the hive has the advantage
of the whole colony of bees.
The plastic cell cups are New Zealand made & supplied by Ceracell Beekeeping
Supplies. They are excellent & can be used straight from the bag with
fantastic results. The young worker larvae are transferred from the breeder
hive using a Chinese grafting tool. This process is performed in a small
dark shed by Judy, under an illuminated magnifying Lens. 220 cells are transferred
in approximately 30 minutes. During that time, I am running to and fro fetching
and returning the frames of cells cups from the prepared hives.
Harvesting 5 or 6 day old cells is made easy with the assistance of my
Carricell which I have plugged in to a tractor or truck via a longer connecting
cable. It doesn’t matter if the weather is windy, cold or wet because
the cells are only exposed for a very short time. I have even harvested cells
when there was snow on the hive lids! A shelter from rain or extreme heat
is always advisable.
After each hive has had the 6 day cells harvested into a Carricell, it
is then prepared for the next batch of cells for larvae transfer. Checking
for adequate brood frames to support the queen cell development, and changing
them every 2 weeks, is a very critical manipulation to carry out. Very rarely
do I find rogue queen cells being developed in my cell builders. Using a
cell production schedule is also important in order to record the groups
of hives being used on any particular day.
As you can see, the Carricell is a extremely convenient and vital tool
for requeening in the 21st century!
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