Finding day-old larvae

[Mellifera Crofter]

Can people grafting day-old larvae please help - how do you manage to find them? Do you add an empty comb four days earlier and just hope the queen will oblige and lay in that comb, or do you somehow trap her on that comb? Or do you just open the box and see what you can find?
Kitta

[Jon]

You can add a comb and remove it 4 days later of just find a comb in the brood box which has a few dozen suitable aged larvae on it.

[mbc]

You can add a comb and remove it 4 days later of just find a comb in the brood box which has a few dozen suitable aged larvae on it.

This works better if the comb has first been worked by placing it between two frames of brood above an excluder so that the bees polish the cells and make it smell right, then the queen usually has no hesitation in laying in it once it's placed in her nest and she has access.
One technique for choosing larvae from a mixed age frame is to push an egg over with your grafting tool and not to choose larvae any larger than the egg, preferably smaller.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Thanks, Jon and mbc - I'm relieved that neither of you think trapping her is necessary. Kitta

[Jon]

Those systems such as Jenter don't make sense to me as to have to faff about putting the queen in and out of a cage.
A 12 hour larva would be better than a 24 hour old one although the smaller ones are more difficult to move without damage.
I use a triple zero sable brush but most people seem to use the chinese grafting tool.

If you put in a frame and remove it 4 days later and the queen is still laying on it you could use it to take grafts for the 3 subsequent days which saves you having to look for another frame each time. I usually have several colonies set up to take grafts and often graft a frame or two over several days.
If only a few grafts are started you can graft again the next day.
Some days you graft and they start only 2 cells and the next day they might start 20.
Quirky things bees.

[Poly Hive]

The few times I tried the Jenter cage (bought at a roup for 50p!) the queen neatly hoppy skippied over the plugs and laid in the cells. I had to graft out of it which seemed a bit sideways to proceed...lol

To answer the OP though I look for a frame with very young larvae at the edges and graft from there. As I told the Boots optician I need to see larvae which are near invisible and translucent, I don't think he had been asked for that before and in a few weeks I can trial them. :)

As a by the by my two sets of tri focals cost £500 from Boots and my wife just got the same from Asda with change from £100. No brainer eh?

PH

[Jon]

If you are short sighted like me the easiest way to graft is to remove your glasses once you have the frame in front of you.

[fatshark]

I buy +2 to +3 diopter glasses from a well known online auction site for about £4 … I find the larvae by looking for eggs. Assuming a good laying pattern the youngest larvae are in the cells adjacent to the oldest eggs. The eggs are easier to see. A head torch makes things much easier.

[Bridget]

I buy +2 to +3 diopter glasses from a well known online auction site for about £4 … I find the larvae by looking for eggs. Assuming a good laying pattern the youngest larvae are in the cells adjacent to the oldest eggs. The eggs are easier to see. A head torch makes things much easier.

Which ones? I had a look on there yesterday and thought it might be a bit of a lottery. They seem to vary so much in price. A recommendation would be good



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[fatshark]

The last pair I bought were these (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1X-Reading-Glasses-Frameless-Rimless-Matching-Carrying-Case-1-0-1-5-2-0-2-5-3-0-/111116484876). Hmmm ... weird URL. If the link doesn't work search for item 111116484876. These seem perfectly OK for the relatively short time I wear them.

I need stronger ones than I need for reading. I tried various strengths on in Boots and made sure I could easily see commas or full stops in small fonts at the sort of working distance I do my grafting at. Then went and bought them at a quarter the price online.

Please don't blame me for the demise of the High Street shopping experience ...

BTW, no need to wear your bee suit when you check them for strength in Boots ... though you'll not be pestered by sales assistants if you do ;)

[Bridget]

The last pair I bought were these (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1X-Reading-Glasses-Frameless-Rimless-Matching-Carrying-Case-1-0-1-5-2-0-2-5-3-0-/111116484876). Hmmm ... weird URL. If the link doesn't work search for item 111116484876. These seem perfectly OK for the relatively short time I wear them.

I need stronger ones than I need for reading. I tried various strengths on in Boots and made sure I could easily see commas or full stops in small fonts at the sort of working distance I do my grafting at. Then went and bought them at a quarter the price online.

Please don't blame me for the demise of the High Street shopping experience ...

BTW, no need to wear your bee suit when you check them for strength in Boots ... though you'll not be pestered by sales assistants if you do ;)

Sorry Fatshark I misunderstood you. I was meaning something more like this .....
2247

[fatshark]

Ah ha! … for headtorches I've usually chosen the Energizer ones like this (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wilkinson-Sword-627022-Energizer-Headlight/dp/B000IX17SS). They're adjustable, comfortable, have low/high beam (or something like that) and the red LEDs are useful for using when you put queen cells into primed mini-nucs. I've tried (on, but never used) the ones with in built magnification and always found them uncomfortable - in this instance two 'tools' are better than one combined.