Richard Smailes wrote a very useful small booklet "Raise Your Own Queens by the Punched Cell Method". This was published by BIBBA in 1970, with a second edition in 1977.

I think the punched cell method is one of the most underrated and underused methods of queen rearing, despite "Raise Your Own Queens by the Punched Cell Method" being a popular booklet that is in many BKA libraries. The booklet is the most comprehensive source of information I have found on the subject and it has been a great help to me, as it also gives simple and easily understood information about queen rearing.

I know little about Richard Smailes and to my knowledge never met him. I can't find any information about him, other than a few snippets that are in the booklet, so I am recording information here, even though it is brief. He was apparently an enthusiast of the native honey bee Apis mellifera mellifera. The second edition of the booklet was updated after his death in 1971.

If anyone has any further information about Richard Smailes please Email me and I will include it here.

Roger Patterson.

Page created 10/07/2016

Page updated 17/11/2020