Aritificial swarm to nuc

[Gadgetman]

Hi. Having found a charged Q cell in a hive, I have done an artificial swarm placing the existing Q in a nuc box along with 3 frames of brood/stores/nurse bees, plus 3 frames of foundation. I failed however, to shake in any additional bees to boost their numbers a bit. I have two questions:
1) Is it now too late to shake in some more bees in the hope that some nurses will join the colony to boost numbers? (I did the AF yesterday - Thursday - morning)
2) When doing an Artificial Swarm like this, can the Nuc be located anywhere or does it need to follow the "3ft or 3miles" rule?
Thanks
Gadgetman

 

[Curly green finger's]

You can keep the nuc in the same apiary just be aware that some of the flying bees will return to the parent hive.
If you move them to an out apiary this won't happen.
And yes you could still shake bees in your nuc from the parent hive.

 

[Gadgetman]

You can keep the nuc in the same apiary just be aware that some of the flying bees will return to the parent hive.
If you move them to an out apiary this won't happen.
And yes you could still shake bees in your nuc from the parent hive.

Thanks. Can I move the Nuc a couple of hundred yards - so not in the same apiary, but fairly close? I'm assuming many of the older bees will return to the original hive whether it's 3ft or 300ft away...?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

1) Is it now too late to shake in some more bees in the hope that some nurses will join the colony to boost numbers? (I did the AF yesterday - Thursday - morning)

No, shake away

2) When doing an Artificial Swarm like this, can the Nuc be located anywhere or does it need to follow the "3ft or 3miles" rule?

It's actually the opposite to what some assume, you should keep the nuc in the same apiary but a little more than three feet away, you actually want the flying bees to leave the nuc and return to the mother hive, they are the swarm instigators and if you take the nuc three miles away the flying bees will stay with the queen but may well swarm from the nuc.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Thanks. Can I move the Nuc a couple of hundred yards - so not in the same apiary, but fairly close? I'm assuming many of the older bees will return to the original hive whether it's 3ft or 300ft away...?

Not MANY or SOME …….but ALL ….and that’s what you want