drone layer

[Jon]

I mentioned in a blog entry (http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/entry.php?673-First-check-2014) that I had found a colony with a drone laying queen on Thursday past.
I opened it up today to sort it out and discovered that it was a supersedure queen, probably tried this some time in October as I think my last check of this nuc was late September.
It was a lovely looking queen so a shame to have to squash her.
This type of cage is perfect for marking and clipping queens - much easier than the plunger cage as it is dead easy to tease the wing out to snip it.
1963 1964 1965 1966

[chrisjhodges]

Looking already?


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[fatshark]

Jon
I've not seen a queen marking cage like that before. Thorne's sell one with a 'netting' top and - during the sales - a rigid plastic mesh which is worse than useless. The netting one is OK for clipping but it takes patience. Your description suggests that the cage doesn't have a plunger … ?
I'll have a look for one at the BBKA convention.

[Jon]

It does have a plunger covered in foam like the other ones but has 3 bars rather than the mesh. Marking and clipping with one of these is something a complete beginner could achieve first time. Really simple.
I think several of the main suppliers sell them.


Looking already?
Hi Chris. I always check for drone layers as early as I can. We have had a couple of days where it reached 14c. I have 4 extra queens which overwintered in apideas so checking early can make the difference between saving a colony and finding a heap of small drones and a few elderly workers in the middle of April.
In this case, the colony was very small so I am combining it with the nuc beside it. All I did was move the drone layer colony away a few feet so any flyers will find their way into the other nuc. I check in a couple of days and shake out the stragglers in front of the queenright nuc.

[Black Comb]

I have used this type of cage for the past couple of years and think they are good.
Thornes sell them, they cost about £1 more than the one mentioned by fat shark.
They do have a plunger but this has a stop which stops you squashing her.
Great for clumsy fingers like mine.