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The Keeper's Hive

IPM Frame with Royal Chamber

IPM Frame with Royal Chamber

$49.00
$49.00
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Configuration
DESCRIPTION

The IPM Frame with Royal Chamber provides beekeepers with a single tool for performing a variety of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Queen management techniques. The Royal Chamber (patent pending) solves many of the issues with currently available queen isolation devices, is 100% made in the USA, and is composed of wood and stainless steel instead of plastic so that it will last season after season.

  • The Royal Chamber can be used for queen introduction AND isolation, with higher success rates of both compared to other products on the market. By providing both worker-accessible and worker-excluding compartments, it allows controlled queen contact, feeding, pheromone exchange, and release.
  • It is intended to stay in the brood nest and be available for immediate queen management without disrupting the colony, eliminating the need for storing and prepping additional specialized equipment. Two seasons of testing (including overwintering) showed no significant burr-comb obstruction in or around the chamber.
  • The Royal Chamber is sold separately so that it can be installed virtually anywhere in a colony - under a top bar, on deep or medium frames using various types of foundation, or in other configurations. It is not limited to use with the IPM Frame or any specific hive system.
  • The design reduces direct queen handling and the associated risks of injury, escape, rejection, or accidental loss by offering multiple methods for capturing or transferring the queen: a hinged gate, a candy-plug port, and a removable roof. All functions can be executed while wearing gloves.
  • The IPM Frame is a standard deep Langstroth frame with waxed black plastic foundation (ACORN). There are diagonal cutouts in the foundation for culling drone comb (favored by Varroa mites), as well as a cutout for the Royal Chamber with a metal back plate and front flip tab for securing it in place (flip tab can also act as a cover for the candy-plug port).

What are the benefits of isolating the queen?

Caging the queen to prevent her from laying creates a brood break and can have several benefits:

  • Provides a brood interruption for Varroa control. With no new brood cells available for occupation/reproduction, any Varroa mites present in the hive are exposed. By precisely timing the administration of mite treatment during the brood-less period (such as an Oxalic acid vaporization) beekeepers are able to knock down mites with extreme efficacy. The queen can then be released to go about business as usual.
  • Helps prevent swarming by decongesting the brood chamber. Because the queen stops laying but remains present in the hive, the swarm impulse is greatly reduced. There is significant evidence to suggest that preventing swarming during the nectar flow can result in higher honey yields. 
  • In our testing, the colony produced emergency queen cells less than 4% of the time during extended queen isolation. We believe this is largely due to the size and spacing of the chamber and its components allowing for unhindered queen pheromone distribution.

More information and tutorials coming soon!

 

Refunds and Returns

Please refer to our Refund policy. 

Shipping Questions

Please refer to our Shipping policy.

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"My experience with the IPM frame with Royal Chamber has been very positive. First off, it’s always there. You can leave it in your hive, which is what I choose to do. It's always available and it's easy and quick to check a few capped drone cells for mites or cull drone brood as the season progresses. The bees do not cover or fill the chamber with propolis, it stays remarkably clean. 

Secondly: CHOICES, Queen isolation for a forced brood break, during which checks on the Queen’s wellbeing are very easy and allow viewing of her and the attendant bees caring for her. After a 21 day isolation plus a day or two an effective one time treatment of OA vapor for Varroa control. Easy release of the Queen upon completion of isolation, by simply using your hive tool to swing the door open while the Royal chamber and frame are in place. 

Thirdly: Safe Queen introduction with a mated queen or a queen cell, the latter being my preferred method. 

Confidence & safety: Until using the Royal chamber I had never manipulated the Queen. I lacked the confidence for fear of injuring or killing her. With the Royal Chamber I was able to simply guide her into the chamber and swing the door closed and easily place it back into the IPM frame. 

These are my actual experiences with using the IPM Frame with the Royal Chamber. Next season I will employ its other uses, such as queen isolation for swarm management. I will have an IPM Frame with Royal Chamber in each of our hives."

DESCRIPTION

The IPM Frame with Royal Chamber provides beekeepers with a single tool for performing a variety of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and Queen management techniques. The Royal Chamber (patent pending) solves many of the issues with currently available queen isolation devices, is 100% made in the USA, and is composed of wood and stainless steel instead of plastic so that it will last season after season.

  • The Royal Chamber can be used for queen introduction AND isolation, with higher success rates of both compared to other products on the market. By providing both worker-accessible and worker-excluding compartments, it allows controlled queen contact, feeding, pheromone exchange, and release.
  • It is intended to stay in the brood nest and be available for immediate queen management without disrupting the colony, eliminating the need for storing and prepping additional specialized equipment. Two seasons of testing (including overwintering) showed no significant burr-comb obstruction in or around the chamber.
  • The Royal Chamber is sold separately so that it can be installed virtually anywhere in a colony - under a top bar, on deep or medium frames using various types of foundation, or in other configurations. It is not limited to use with the IPM Frame or any specific hive system.
  • The design reduces direct queen handling and the associated risks of injury, escape, rejection, or accidental loss by offering multiple methods for capturing or transferring the queen: a hinged gate, a candy-plug port, and a removable roof. All functions can be executed while wearing gloves.
  • The IPM Frame is a standard deep Langstroth frame with waxed black plastic foundation (ACORN). There are diagonal cutouts in the foundation for culling drone comb (favored by Varroa mites), as well as a cutout for the Royal Chamber with a metal back plate and front flip tab for securing it in place (flip tab can also act as a cover for the candy-plug port).

What are the benefits of isolating the queen?

Caging the queen to prevent her from laying creates a brood break and can have several benefits:

  • Provides a brood interruption for Varroa control. With no new brood cells available for occupation/reproduction, any Varroa mites present in the hive are exposed. By precisely timing the administration of mite treatment during the brood-less period (such as an Oxalic acid vaporization) beekeepers are able to knock down mites with extreme efficacy. The queen can then be released to go about business as usual.
  • Helps prevent swarming by decongesting the brood chamber. Because the queen stops laying but remains present in the hive, the swarm impulse is greatly reduced. There is significant evidence to suggest that preventing swarming during the nectar flow can result in higher honey yields. 
  • In our testing, the colony produced emergency queen cells less than 4% of the time during extended queen isolation. We believe this is largely due to the size and spacing of the chamber and its components allowing for unhindered queen pheromone distribution.

More information and tutorials coming soon!

 

Refunds and Returns

Please refer to our Refund policy. 

Shipping Questions

Please refer to our Shipping policy.

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