Royal Jelly Production Equipment

Royal jelly production equipment consists of the collection frames and strips that carry the cell cups, the grafting tool, lighting and magnifier used to transfer larvae, the knife, tweezers, spoon or vacuum collector used at harvest, and the dark glass containers and cold-chain equipment that protect the product. Production rests on the same foundation as queen rearing; the difference is that the cells are harvested on the third day and the product is kept cold from the moment it is collected. This page is a guide to planning equipment according to workflow and scale.

Why is equipment so important in royal jelly production?

Royal jelly (queen bee jelly) is the creamy-white secretion produced by young nurse bees that feeds the queen larva. Because the amount taken from a single cell is very small, meaningful production is only possible by grafting and harvesting hundreds of cells every three days. At this pace, fast, clean and mutually compatible equipment directly determines the yield.

The second job of the equipment is to protect product quality. Royal jelly is sensitive to heat, light, air and contamination. An unsuitable container, a dirty spoon or a broken cold chain lowers the value of the product without leaving any visible trace.

Royal jelly equipment by workflow

Production equipment: frames, strips and cell cups

In royal jelly production, cell cups are usually used not one by one but as linked cell cup strips. The strips are fitted onto bars placed inside a standard-sized collection frame. This way, hundreds of cells can be given to the colony in a few movements and harvested strip by strip rather than one at a time.

• Plastic strips: can be washed and reused, are uniform in size and speed up harvesting. They can hold odours; no detergent residue should be left.
• Beeswax cups: readily accepted by the bees, but have to be prepared again for each cycle and require care at harvest so that wax fragments don't get into the jelly.
• Collection frame: the bars should be removable or rotatable; during grafting and harvesting, a bar can be taken out without disturbing the frame.

Grafting equipment: tool, light and magnifier

Transferring hundreds of larvae every three days makes grafting equipment the most heavily used part of a royal jelly operation.

• Grafting tool: the flexible-tongue tool is fast and cheap; a worn tongue is replaced with a new one. Keep several spares for each person grafting.
• Light source: a head torch or desk lamp that gives off no heat and lights the bottom of the cell. A lamp that heats up dries out the larvae.
• Magnifier: a magnifying visor or magnifier lamp reduces eye strain during long grafting sessions.
• Grafting stand and humidity: a stand holding the comb at a fixed angle, and a work area covered with a damp cloth, delay the larvae drying out.

Harvesting equipment: from removing larvae to collecting the jelly

Harvesting takes place about 72 hours after grafting, when the jelly in the cell is at its peak. The order is always the same: the mouth of the cell is trimmed, the larva is removed, then the jelly is collected.

• Sharp knife: cuts and levels the wax the bees have added to the mouth of the cell; work without dropping wax fragments into the jelly.
• Larva tweezers or hook: fine-tipped, stainless; lifts the larva without puncturing it. If body fluid from a damaged larva gets into the jelly, the product turns cloudy.
• Collecting spoon or spatula: enough for a small number of cells; stainless steel, glass, wood or food-grade plastic.
• Vacuum collector: a fine suction tip draws the jelly straight into a collecting bottle; on a large scale it provides speed and hygiene, but the hose and reservoir must be cleaned meticulously.

Cold chain and storage equipment

The real equipment of royal jelly production is the often-overlooked cold chain. The collecting container is never left in the sun, and every container that fills up is chilled at once.

• Dark glass jar: lets no light through, does not hold odours and has an airtight lid. Small containers avoid frequent opening and closing.
• Cool box and ice packs: for transport from the apiary to the processing area.
• Refrigerator: short-term storage at about 0–5 °C.
• Deep freezer: long-term storage at −18 °C or below; thawed product must not be refrozen.

How should the working environment be set up?

Grafting and harvesting should be done in a bee-tight, cool, shaded and clean room or tent. This area should be treated like a food processing area.

1. Dirty and clean zones: frames coming from the hive are kept on one side, collected jelly and clean tools on the other.
2. Surfaces: easy-to-wipe, food-grade materials, protected from dust and sun.
3. Personal hygiene: washed hands or disposable gloves, a hairnet and a clean apron.
4. Humidity: for grafting, the environment should not be dry and hot; a damp cloth and a cool room delay the larvae drying out.

Equipment plan by scale

Royal jelly production should be planned as a separate branch of production, not as a sideline. A frame harvested on a three-day cycle is usually regrafted the same day and returned to the colony. Keeping a spare set of frames and strips for each production colony prevents the colony from being left without cells during harvesting and grafting, and keeps work from being held up.

• Trial scale: a few colonies, two collection frames for each, a hand collecting spoon, small dark glass containers and a refrigerator.
• Regular production: many production colonies used in rotation, spare frames and strips, a vacuum collector, a separate processing room, a freezer and a precision scale.

At any scale, protein support, boosting with young bees and rotational use to prevent production colonies wearing out are as important as equipment. No treatments are used in colonies during the production period; residues pass straight into the product.

Common mistakes

• Working without spares: a broken bar or a missing strip disrupts the cycle, harvest day slips and jelly yield falls.
• Metal containers and dirty tools at harvest: royal jelly is acidic; metal that can rust or has lost its coating is not used.
• Leaving the container out until the end of the job: each small container should be chilled as soon as it is full.
• Putting the vacuum line away without drying it: jelly left in the hose spoils and gets into the next batch.
• Not keeping records: if you don't know how much each colony yields, weak colonies stay in production.