"A-Z" INDEX
  &   SEARCH
SUBJECT
INDEX
David A. Cushman logo
Drone Transporting Cage
for Kirchhain Style Nucleus Hives
devised by Bill Dartnall

neat little cage for transporting drones in a Kirchhain mating nuc

This neat and simple arrangement was devised by Bill Dartnall, it allows a cage (or two) of drones to be transported using a Kirchhain mating nuc that is stocked with bees. This allows the drones to be fed and looked after by workers and allows transport to occur with far fewer losses of drones than is the case where drones are simply caged and do not have access to workers.

The cage is the same dimensions as a fully drawn Kirchhain frame and simply slots in place instead of a normal Kirchhain frame that has these dimensions.

Drones need to be transported for several reasons...

The drones are placed in the cage by hand through the hole in the top bar, which is kept closed with a finger of the hand holding the cage, between each drone. The drones are easily collected by leaning a wire queen excluder against the front of a hive, or drones of calibrated age can be used from other cages. When enough drones have been collected the stopper is placed in the hole and owing to the taper of it's plug will grip the hole firmly enough to transport.