Queen rearing Nicot Kit

01 · WHAT IS IN THE BOX

One of each, and one cell built

The set builds one complete queen cell, from the base to the protector: the CNE1 support is nailed to the bar of the raising frame, the CNE2 block clips on top, the CNE3 cup with the larva goes inside and, once the cell is sealed, the CNE5 Rulo protects it until the virgin emerges. Raising ten queens takes ten of each piece, and all four are sold singly in this same shop.

02 · HOW IT IS USED

Grafting, a queenless colony and ten to twelve days

You graft a larva less than 24 hours old into each cup with the grafting tool. The frame with the loaded cups goes into a queenless colony, which turns to the queen-raising instinct and builds the cells. Ten to twelve days later the sealed cells are shared out to queenless nucs — one per nuc — and the virgins emerge there. The Rulo goes over the sealed cell so the newly hatched queen stays protected until you introduce or mark her.

03 · HOW FAR IT GOES

To try the method, not to run the season

It is the minimum kit for the hobbyist with ten to thirty hives who wants to stop buying queens and find out whether the method suits them, at little cost. If it works, you scale up by buying the pieces singly by the hundred. And if grafting defeats you — it is the part that most frightens beginners — the next step is the cupularve, the patented cage where the queen lays straight into the cups and no larva has to be moved.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Supplied as one unit of each of the four pieces. It suits any hive format.