If you want to try your hand at queen rearing (queens can tend to be very expensive), we highly suggest these convenient and durable plastic queen cell cups with base.

Each set comes with 20 queen cell cups and one base. Using a queen grafting tool, remove honey bee larvae from one of your hives and place inside the bottom of one of the plastic queen cell “starter” cups. Once you have filled all 20 cups with larvae, attach the cups to the base either with melted beeswax or a hot glue gun (we prefer the melted beeswax method). Once all cups are attached to the base, affix the base to a deep wooden frame by creating a slotted “rack” that attaches to the end bars of the deep frame. This rack allows for the base to sit securely on the frame once the bases are secured to the rack. Each deep frame will hold up to 4 bases. Make sure that the bases are affixed so that the queen cell cups sit upside down on the frame. Place the filled frame into a queen-less “finishing” hive. After 8 to 10 days the larvae in the cell cups should be completely enclosed. Once the larvae become completely enclosed, place a hair roller cage over each plastic cell cup. Hair roller cages can be made from a fine mesh plastic, rolled into a cylinder and sealed on one end. Keep these cages on the emerging queens for approximately 16 days. On or around the 16th day, the queen should emerge from the cell into the cage.

Our plastic queen cell cups with base can be used over and over again and will last for many seasons. Each base measures .5" tall by 17" long.