Making queen cell protectors. How to protect multiple queen cells on plastic foundation.

We show you how we make hardware cloth queen cell protectors. We drill a 1 1/4" and 1 5/8" hole thru a 2x4. Then we cut 1/8" hardware cloth into 2 1/2" squares and 3 1/2" squares. The 2 1/2" is for the smaller hole and the 3 1/2" is for the larger hole in the 2x4. We use an appropriate size handle to push the wire thru the hole to form the cup. Trim them with a tin snips. Then use these over the queen cells on the frame. While she's waiting to hatch out and some other queen cells are hatching, the newly hatched queens can't run around and cut her queen cell down.

[@andrelacombe2131]

Thanks I use them all the time now.

[@RaySarasin]

Great idea i will make some now as one never knows when you need one thank you

[@joestocker660]

Don't know how I missed this with Don's stuff. Haven't watched him much in the last few years. Lankford P (Woolie B's) did one on catching them before they harden up and last year that alone expanded my little outfit. Now I'm grafting but pretty terrible at it. However, I have probably 40 cells across several hives/nucs due to pop within a week. Saw Front Range Queens video yesterday on rectangle (he also learned from Don). Good on you for the smoker/mission work. If you'll post a link to your church I'll send something. I wouldn't have thought of this trick with a gun to my head, and it hit exactly when it will benefit me. Hmmm.... Coincidence. Nope. Thanks God! And thank you Bro. :)

[@honyokhoneybees8116]

Thank you.

[@otivaeey]

I did this and all the new hatched queens were stung to death by the first hatched queen. You need to cage every single one and make sure there's no queen roaming around.

[@honyokhoneybees8116]

Yes we caged all of them. We also checked on them. Once they hatch in the protector you need to move them to a queenless hive. It really works well if done correctly. Enjoy!

[@timlewis9873]

Good idea.

[@chrissv]

So when you put this cage over a queen cell, do you need to leave extra room with the adjacent frame (i.e. do you need to take out a frame)? It would seem like the cage would go into the next frame's space.

[@honyokhoneybees8116]

We typically leave the frames apart to allow room and make it easy to find the frame that needs checked. If the box is tight you can place a new frame on the cell side to allow the cage more space. In a 5 frame box we would run 4 frames to allow plenty of space to not roll the cage off the cell when pulling it out of the box to check.

[@mocarp1]

How much room you try to leave to the end of Q cell so they can emerge? More importantly, what is the barrel for behind you?

[@honyokhoneybees8116]

Sometimes we have to egg shape the protector to make sure there is 1/4" of room at the end of the cell for her to get out. Some cells are rather long. The barrel is a UDS. An Ugly Drum Smoker. I build these for fund raising for our church mission trips for our youth.

[@helenflickinger832]

Can you cage all of the swarm cells , even the one that you want left behind . How often do you check them , can the bees feed them , if you don't check every day.How about very close double swarm cells , when they hatch out do they kill each other . And how do you transfer to another queen cage , with out them flying off ?

[@honyokhoneybees8116]

We cage what we can. Cells on the bottom of the frame cannot be caged. If there are double cells we cage them. The first one that hatches wins and cuts down the other. Must check them every day. The virgin queens don't last more than a day in the cages.. We transfer the virgin queens into queenless boxes with not much resources. Not much brood and small amount of bees in the summer. This time of year with cold nights we have a frame of bees in a 2 frame box. We catch the virgin queens by hand. We don't grab their wings because they are very delicate. Usually the queens are on the cage. Makes them easy to catch. Pull cage off cover with hand and put her in a queenless hive.

[@brianbenham8289]

Guys can I purchase a few Queen cell caps please

[@mikelawler7105]

Tried them and bees keep knocking them off.

[@honyokhoneybees8116]

The length of the cup is important. Too long and it sticks out so far that the cup can drag on the next frame and roll off. Too shallow and it won't push into the comb far enough to hold. The only problem we had was the bees digging under the cup and letting the queen out. Sometimes we removed a frame from the box to allow more room so the cup didn't catch and drag off.