The Alley method (sometimes referred to as the Alley plan) is one of several simple ways of producing queen cells in small quantities suitable for the ordinary amateur beekeeper. Over the years, there have been modifications and to avoid confusion I will refer to them all as the Alley method.

Before the more sophisticated methods of raising queen cells were introduced, many beekeepers cut up comb with worker larvae in that were the correct age for the bees to convert into queen cells. This would have been in the 19^th century, with a flourish towards the end, presumably after the introduction of the moveable comb hive and the subsequent growth of commercial beekeeping, especially in the US.

Henry Alley was an American beekeeper and successful queen rearer who wrote about this method in his book "The bee-keeper's handy book", that was published in 1883.

I won't bother too much with all the variations here, but will concentrate on the method I have used on a several occasions, which differs slightly from the way Alley did it.

If a new comb is placed in the middle of the brood area of a colony, the queen will usually lay in it quite quickly. Strips of comb with larvae of the correct age are cut out and mounted in a frame. I have used two methods quite successfully.

• Lay the strip of comb on a flat board and cut almost to the midrib with a sharp knife on the opposite side to where you want the queen cells to be built. Fix the comb (or several pieces) to a strip of wood that is nailed to a frame. I first used molten beeswax, but then wrapped wool or narrow cotton tape around it.
• Either pinch the comb between the bottom bars of a shallow frame or in the wedge of a top bar. This is very simple and preferable to the above.

Queen cells will be built at random and often joined, so it is better to destroy 2-3 larvae between the selected ones before placing the frame in the cell raising colony. Alley used a match, but a cotton bud or small childs paintbrush that is fairly stiff will do.

When the Q/Cs are ready to be distributed they can simply be cut out.

I find the Alley method produces very good queens with minimal equipment and is well suited to the smaller beekeeper who only wants a small number of queens, but it is a bit of a fiddle and overall I prefer the Miller method.

Roger Patterson.

Page created 04/07/2016

Page updated 18/12/2022