Niquot Problems?

[DoctorZ]

Beemaster greetings. I'm undergoing my second attempt to use the Niquot system to raise some Q cells.

Today I'm at the stage where the eggs are hatching into young larvae. I transferred to the cell fixtures five or so cups that I interpreted to be full of Royal Jelly - milky white substance quite different than clear nectar. However I could not see the larvae through the RJ.

When I removed the brown cell cups, though some RJ remained in the brown cell cups, a fair bit of RJ remained in the artificial comb. Is this common? I am returning later this afternoon to see if more eggs have hatched.

Thanks for all  your help, Beemasters!

George

[theriverhawk]

Wow...that's alot of royal jelly in there.  If you've got enough RJ to full the entire brown cup plus into the top of the cell, I would guess those larvae may be too old.  When I transfer to the cell building frame, the brown cups usually just have a drop or two of RJ. 

[Sour Kraut]

Is there a book available on the Niquot system ?

Thanks

Gary

[Robo]

My experience is the same as riverhawk.  They won't start feeding royal jelly until the egg hatches, and as soon as it hatches,  is when you want to move it.   Something doesn't sound right,  until you move the larvae, they are treating it as a worker egg/larvae,  and they would never feed a worker larvae that much royal jelly.

[Robo]

Is there a book available on the Niquot system ?

Thanks

Gary

No book that I know of.    Here is a write up I did on using it -> http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/queen-rearing/