@Apis mellifera I've learned smaller number of grafts in a 5 frame cell builder is the way to go. More cycles of queens is much easier to deal with. I've tried large batches of queens and it's devastating if you are late getting to the yard to find virgins hatched, or you get a great take and are compelled to start tearing down production hives for brood and bees to make up the colonies. Which usually ends badly as bees drift out and brood chills. I've made a lot of errors to get to a manageable system. I'm only looking for 60-ish new starts this year then some rounds of queens to replace older stock that are not breeders.
@Sally PB I have some dry pollen sub left in the freezer purchased two years ago but will need more and as I don't feed it to the bees in the spring anymore it's only for queen rearing. This will be my first year collecting it. Will only need a few single day collections for queen rearing. I'm finding the hardest part of making a pollen trap is obtaining the correct woven wire sizes. 7 mesh is hard to find. Probably will go with 6 mesh for the pollen to fall through. 5 mesh is for the entrance of hive to rub the pollen off legs, falls through the 7 mesh (bees can't get through that and pollen won't fall through 8 mesh). Like I said, will likely go with the 6 mesh as it's easier to find, workers have to struggle to get through it.
I managed to catch a couple and put them in minis. Ive blown it plenty of times to find holes drilled in the side of the cells too. Now I hair roller cage them after they are capped. I put a couple drops of honey in the bottom of cage.
Thank you.
