Portable Queen Cell Incubator Carricell®

01 · THERMOSTAT

Factory-set, and 34 °C is the ceiling

The two front lights tell you what happens inside: the left confirms power, the right goes out when the element stops, between 32 and 34 °C. The reading comes not from the air but from a digital strip under the foam tray, where the cell actually sits. The maker asks for around 15 minutes of preheating before loading and fixes 34 °C as the limit: the unit heats, it does not cool, and above that nothing can be corrected.

02 · POWER

12 to 24 V direct current, not a mains appliance

It ships with a coiled lead and a cigarette-lighter plug: its natural use is wired into the vehicle for the run. For the shed you need a battery charger or a transformer rated 50 VA or more on the accessory socket supplied; it is not in the box. Draw is 1.8 amps intermittently, low enough for a full day on a car battery, and the circuit is polarity protected: positive or negative earthed batteries both work.

03 · FOAM TRAY

One socket per cell, and it lifts out whole

Cells load one by one, upright, each in its own hole. Because they sit apart, a queen that emerges early cannot reach the ones beside her. The tray lifts out complete and spends the night in a cabinet incubator without handling cell by cell; it is sold on its own as a spare in all three sizes.

04 · COMPATIBILITY

It belongs to no rearing system and no hive format

Unlike almost everything in queen rearing, there is no closed ecosystem here: a ripe cell goes in whether it came from Nicot, JZBZ, Jenter or a graft onto a wax cup. The one rule is that it travels loose — the cell bar comes off before loading, because every cell needs its own socket. Nor does the hive format matter, Dadant Blatt, Langstroth or Layens: the unit lives in the vehicle, not in the hive. The only real decision is batch size: 40, 70 or 144 cells.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

This is a transport incubator for the last leg, not a rearing cabinet: it does not incubate from grafting and is no bank for emerged queens. It has no humidity control — over 6 to 10 days none is needed, and a damp cloth laid over the cells is enough if you want it higher. And budget the transformer separately if it will live plugged in at the shed.