2 in 1 Mating Nuc

[TomH]

Another nuc box question if I may... I have the BS honeybees 6 frame poly nuc, which has the divider board, so can work as two separate colonies on 3 frames. I would like to try and raise some queens from my one of my good colonies, which has produced swarm cells.

My thinking so far, for each half was:

1 Frame with 1 charged queen cell, and emerging brood
1 frame stores
1 frame drawn comb
Plus shake of bees from one frame in parent colony
Leave for ~3 weeks and hope for successful mating

I have drawn comb available and some frame of stores set aside (mostly syrup/fondant) so I won't be taking stores from the parent colony. I am thinking that as the QCs are mostly raised by the parent colony a lot of the hard work has already been done, but with only 1 frame of emerging brood and a shake of bees, am I providing enough bees to make the nuc viable? I can also move the nuc box to another apiary, to try and avoid losing flying bees if this is better. Would I be better with two frames of brood? Original colony is on brood and a half, but don't want to deplete them too much either. Can I give them more than one queen cell, will they chose the best and tear down the others, or is it better kept to one?

Advice gladly received, or if there is a better method would be great to hear. Thanks

 

[Newbeeneil]

Another nuc box question if I may... I have the BS honeybees 6 frame poly nuc, which has the divider board, so can work as two separate colonies on 3 frames. I would like to try and raise some queens from my one of my good colonies, which has produced swarm cells.

My thinking so far, for each half was:

1 Frame with 1 charged queen cell, and emerging brood
1 frame stores
1 frame drawn comb
Plus shake of bees from one frame in parent colony
Leave for ~3 weeks and hope for successful mating

I have drawn comb available and some frame of stores set aside (mostly syrup/fondant) so I won't be taking stores from the parent colony. I am thinking that as the QCs are mostly raised by the parent colony a lot of the hard work has already been done, but with only 1 frame of emerging brood and a shake of bees, am I providing enough bees to make the nuc viable? I can also move the nuc box to another apiary, to try and avoid losing flying bees if this is better. Would I be better with two frames of brood? Original colony is on brood and a half, but don't want to deplete them too much either. Can I give them more than one queen cell, will they chose the best and tear down the others, or is it better kept to one?

Advice gladly received, or if there is a better method would be great to hear. Thanks

That sounds good to me and what I do. If you have brood that is about to emerge you will have to upgrade to 6 frame nuc within 3 weeks of the queen emerging

 

[Swarm]

If you've removed the queen, leave the colony seal the cells first, they will get better nourishment.

 

[ericbeaumont]

better with two frames of brood?

One sealed is sufficient, Tom.

Occasionally both sides result in mated Qs. Sometimes one side smells the other through the mesh floor and only one queen survives. I considered sealing opposing halves of the mesh floors to limit transfer of pheromone, but haven't got round to it.

You'll discover that the divider is a curate's egg. When new, and the divider straight, it works fine, but forget trying to remove the divider when the box contains bees, even only one half: it's a pain to dislodge it.

When used as a single box the divider groove is propolised or waxed and the divider then won't fit, unless you clean grooves thoroughly with hot washing soda.

Vaseline is ineffective at preventing the above.

To make life easy I recommend that you maintain some boxes as twins (keep the dividers fixed in place; once out on a shelf, they bend) and others as singles.

BS recognised the issue and now sell a rigid composite metal divider, but I've yet to buy & try it as it's permanently out of stock.

Really, it ought to be supplied as standard, as the Correx divider is not up to the job unless you maintain twins exclusively.

 

[Swarm]

Or even knock up some three frame nuc boxes. The frame of brood and bees, frame of stores and a spare comb, once she is laying a decent pattern, move them up.

 

[Ian123]

I keep all mating nucs in 5-6 frame boxes nowadays, it’s so much easier to manage. Knock them back or let them expand you have options.

 

[TomH]

Thank you all for the practical advice and knowledge that's been dispensed, really appreciated. Just going into my second full year, so trying to be a bit more ahead of the game, and think what I need to do at each inspection and have a bit of a longer term plan (and associated kit!), compared to the blind panic that was last year!

Always seems a shame to take down big swarm cells, which are probably the best the bees will make, from a colony in their prime. I can see the use of having your own queens and nucs on hand, so be great to try and make use of it.

When managing nucs, what's the best strategy if you don't want to transfer to a full size hive, just bleed off frames of stores/brood to other hives and make sure they continue have space?

 

[ericbeaumont]

what's the best strategy if you don't want to transfer to a full size hive, just bleed off frames of stores/brood to other hives and make sure they continue have space?

Yes, that works.