How you doing Charlie.... ;)
I do not use the jenter system, or a cloake board, or any of the systems mentioned. I am old school from the sense that I graft into wax cell, that are placed into wooden cell cups. I graft with a Chinese bamboo grafter. About as basic as it gets. I get all my supplies from Kelley's, and it way cheaper than the queen systems on the market.
Most of the systems sold on the market, are really systems designed to take the grafting out of the mix. It is the one thing so many have problems with, but also one of the easiest things to do once you learn how.
I graft, so I can control the exact date I pull cells, when to have the breeding nucs ready, when I can pull queens out and sell to customers, and a host of other things. Some of the other systems are designed for the queen to lay into cells, and then you find out a couple days later, that she did not do that. And many times, if you add up the number of steps, its supposed to be easier, but it really is no easier than just grafting into a hive using a cell frame. But each product out there markets based on ease and convenience, but it's not. It just takes out grafting, that's all. The part about moving cells, and how many times you get into the hive really does not change.
For what it's worth, this is what I do.....I remove a queen from a strong well fed colony. I wait 2-3 days, then remove any queen cells started. I collect the royal jelly from those cells, and use their own royal jelly to graft right back into the same colony. one of two things must happen after day 10 on the queen calendar. 1) You must go back in and remove any missed queen cells (You can pull them and make a nuc) or 2) you must place the cell bar of now capped queen cells, above an excluder. This is to prevent any missed queen cells from coming out and killing all your queens. remember, I grafted into a hive that was making queens cells about three days ahead of my grafting. I then pull my cells on day 13. That gives me an extra day to place the cells, even if they start emerging on day 15.
The nice thing about grafting is that you know in 48 hours if you did a good job or not. I've had a bad graft and you pull the bars, and simply graft again.
If I was making cells just for myself and I was not under pressure to have queens on certain dates based on orders, I may try some of the other methods. I have tried about every method out there. But I still like the control and output of grafting.
I'll defer on commenting on cloake boards and Mel's system. I would rather tell you what I do, and keep it positive... :roll:
I would not move cells until at least day 12. I know some will mention they get away with moving open queen cells, etc., I just try to pass on the optimal situation, and thus keep your failures to a minimum. ;)
There are many ways to raise queens. The basic queen calendar, the risk, timing, almost always stays the same. The main thing to not allow to happen is a rogue queen to kill your cells.