Just as constructing a strong building requires a strong foundation we consider our cell builders the cornerstone of our queen business. We use a modified swarm box method of cell building (queenless). Each day we graft we "shake" 100 lbs. of fresh bulk bees in the morning. This 100 lbs is divided into four cell building units.( 25 lbs per unit for those in Rio Linda.) With 3500+ bees per pound, each cell builder contains approximately 90,000 support bees

Into the cell builders we place 5 custom made grafting frames with 45 JzBz cell cups per frame. These 225 cells are supported by the 90,000 bulk bees averaging 400 workers per cell. Each cell builder is fed one gallon of syrup each day along with 10 lbs of pollen supplement during the cell building period.

Other queen breeders may think that our method is overkill but we can tell you from experience that this procedure helps produce large/ healthy cells and virgins. When the queen cells are capped we often "rescue" about half of the bulk bees and use them in some of our own splits.

On the tenth day after we graft we remove the cells from the cell builders. The frames of cells are placed in a humidified incubator with the temperature set at 91.5 ° - 92 ° F. The cells are held here until they are placed in the mating nukes.

On the eleventh day after we graft we carefully remove the cells from the cell bars. Each cell is placed in a specially designed holding container to minimize cell damage prior to placement in the mating nuc. We continue to use "Queen Trac" in between cell builder/ incubator / mating nucs.