I think he attributed that, at least in part, to having young queens in the boxes which (combined with the nice dimensions of the unit) is probably about the mark. But yes they're very easy and economical to overwinter.Originally Posted by gavin
They're also a nice box to keep queens in while they're on the grafting rota.
Last edited by prakel; 07-04-2015 at 08:31 PM.
Fecundation off!!
That hadn't occurred to me, thanks. Jon was also suggesting trying a Paynes 6 frame with a 6 frame brood box on top as a cell raiser.
I wrote to them in my very best French with questions on delivery and the like, and heard nothing. When I returned to their web site later, considering just ordering without knowing what the delivery cost would be, they'd run out of frames.
Besides, once you've searched for them in Google, Icko adverts appear all over the internet, up the side of Facebook and everywhere. Not something that endears me to a retailer.
Wilara have even better deals and are responsive. But by the time I got in touch with them I was already negotiating with Abelo for the MiniPluses so have ordered other stuff from Wilara. Bear in mind these prices get 21% tax added.
Last edited by gavin; 08-04-2015 at 12:57 AM.
When I first tried Pasaga Ramic's cell starter last season I used a doubled up mini-plus so as to avoid wasting larger resources if it all went wrong. Worked very well although I did did keep the number of grafts low. Seem to remember Joe Latshaw writing (on Beesource) that he uses a Langstroth five frame nuc as a starter -he also gave figures re numbers and averages. I'll try to find a link later today (unless someone would like to do it for me in the meantime).
This wasn't my first attempt at using the m-p's as cell starters either -we've got a mini-plus cloake board in the shed from previous experiments!
Wilara is quoting lower prices, allowing for VAT/tax. Icko comes up with "Icko beekeeping". See if that activates Google's advert flooding.
I found Icko responsive, and quick delivery, i wrote to them in English.
I know your looking for mini plus, but i just noted the price of swi-bines on the Wilara site out of interest, they are a lot more expensive per individual box price than Swienty.
Wilara £12.50 plus tax on top.
Swienty £10.23 including tax, plus a further discount on quantity, and even more discount if ordering through beefarmers association, around £7.90.
Edit...even better, the Swienty ones can be bought without frames for £8.48, and then the same discounts on top, as above, taking them to just over £6 each
Last edited by Pete L; 08-04-2015 at 07:36 AM.
Was just wondering, this morning, about using a cloake board but the Amm are in Swienty polyhives. Anyone tried switching the floor for such an exercise? I've adapted one to save having to change the floor round to face the other way.
Must be where I went wrong!
This is one which might deserve some further discussion. Back during the winter 'Duncan' who's a man who knows a bit about queen rearing posted a comment about limiting the number of drones per queen to maximize their vitality which really, when you think about it, is exactly what we do with our selected breeder queen (on the daughter line); keep her ticking over but not working to her maximum output.
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