Queen Grafting Workshop
On the weekend of 18th and 19th February 2017 the Illawarra Branch of the ABA, in conjunction with the Sydney branch of the NSW Apiarists Association, hosted a 2-day workshop. The event was led by Bruce White, OAM (Retired Technical Specialist Apiculture NSW Department of Primary Industries). Participants worked with live bees and undertook the task of Queen Bee grafting demonstrating how to graft a queen larva on day 1 and follow up on day 2 to see how well grafts had taken. Students will prepare a starter hive for cell rearing, graft a queen larva, raise the cells and make up a mating nucleus hive.
Specialised Skills
This was a fantastic opportunity for experienced beekeepers to learn a specialised skill from Bruce White, one of the most knowledgeable and respected beekeepers in Australia. Some of the features of the workshop included:
- Demystifying the task of raising queens yourself
- A refresher for those who have raised queens before
- Practical demonstration of equipment and procedures
- Participants did their own grafts and checked progress on day 2
- Making up a nucleus hive
- Demonstration of various methods of introducing mated queens to established colonies
- Successful grafts were offered to students to take home
[…] rearing course later this year. The course will be held over 2 days and will feature Bruce White. You can read more about our previous queen grafting workshop at our blog here. Dates are yet to be finalised however if you’d like to express your interest in this […]