5 frame nuc over winter?

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Jafer2

House Bee
Joined
Sep 10, 2017
Messages
131
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0
Location
Birmingham
Hive Type
14x12
Number of Hives
3
is it worth getting a nuc to overwinter. Its only 5 frames in a poly. It costs 130 so not too bad but what i would like to know is, is it going to be difficult to overwinter because of lack of stores or should be fine as its going to be in a poly making it easier and just need to keep an eye on feeding them?

thanks
 
could you kindly elaborate on the no? thanks :)
 
If you have never kept bees before - or have zero experience in handling them - starting with a poly nuc in Spring is ideal.. you can learn as it grows and learn from inspections.

If starting in winter, you can learn nothing as 1. you cannot inspect and 2. nothing much happens and 3. if things go wrong you will not recognise it and 4. even if you recognise it , you can do nothing.. edit and 5. if you do try to do something, your inexperience means you will probably make a mistake and kill the queen

Experienced beekeepers can do little if a nuc 's queen fails in winter..All they can do is recognise lack of food (crude generalisations I know).

Wait till Spring...

(If it was £25, your risk is less but at £130, you gain nothing and have a risk of losing it all. Winter is a high risk period which is why overwintered nucs are in short supply and expensive in Spring.)

Concentrate on learning over the winter so you are prepared for bees in Spring..
 
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thanks :) , yes i think its only a difference of £25 so guess will wait for spring. thanks for explaining!

was hoping to get it ahead of time so that they are already in a nuc ready early in the season for the early bloom to go into my 14x12 hive
 
If you pause to think for a minute.

Your nuc was to be on what frame? And your hive takes which frame?

PH
 
Dont get the funny part but if you want to know i have hoffman jumbo frames in poly 14x12 and the guy selling nuc is poly with 14x12 jumbo frames.

If you are refering to me using the word on then yes doesnt sound right but you know what i mean.
 
Given your other thread on the main forum complaining about price of bees and this one happy to throw away £130 you are either bipolar or on a wind up. Suspect the latter.

Madasafish has answered most of them, but for other beginners there are also a couple of other points.

Bees need to be fed treated and left alone, still very warm so still very active and trying to get stores into full brood areas.

Being new and excited most newbies would probably fiddle far too much with them. The more they are fiddled with over winter the more likely you are to lose them.

Its very easy to kill damage or lose the queen when a beginner, do that this time of year and you are stuffed because can't get a queen.

So you are unlikely to gain much experience but if all goes well through the winter you are then faced with a 2nd year hive that if any good will build up very quickly next spring and likely want top swarm, or by the time you notice will have already gone. For some people having a 2nd year hive so early won't be such a big issue.

There maybe only £50 difference between now and next year, but next year the biggest risk is the queen and you will be able to replace her relatively easily. You put the whole £130 at risk now, when you have the greatest chance of the biggest loss.

Any new beek taking advantage of that offer is ill advised and needs his bumps felt.
 
Well, yes, if I don't overwinter my tiny 3 frame Nuc, I won't have any bees :)
So for me, it's not a "good thing", it's the only thing.

Since they arrived in late June I have removed frames 3 times:
July: To see what they were.
August: To transfer them into a Poly Nuc.
September: To see how they were prior to winter.

I think that's been enough. They are still small, a "weak" colony, but they are flying now at 17:30 in the rain, still bringing in pollen. (I was told they didn't fly in the rain, they do). So they are a determined little bunch of critters, they even dragged a whole rubber band out of the hive.

Given the efforts they are putting in to survive, I can only help them. So they will be warm and fed throughout the winter.

I think they will make it.

Although the posters are so right, I have been so tempted to open them up, so many times, but I have usually resisted (when I didn't I got told off :) )

I have listened to what everyone has said and basically formed a way of working where I watch the entrance, check the Miller feeder (they are great, you can see the bees without opening the hive, more like an observation hive), then I think "What are they up to", "What's going on", and if I want to open them I need to find 3 reasons, or one very very good one.

Mostly they go out and get pollen (because they have Ambrosia in the Miller), 9/10 bees coming back have pollen. I did let the Miller run out, then the ratio was 5/10 bees returning had pollen. Filled the Miller, back to 9/10. So from that I concluded they were "Making bees".

Basically I am learning and it is my plan that by nursing this small group through a year, I will learn more. Maybe enough to look after hive properly. By observing the "Micro culture" I can learn how to assist the "Macro Culture".

Yes. Small nukes are worth it, in my view. :)

Also, the point about "£200 being a lot for bees", is quite valid. These just came to our garden because we invited them :)

K
 
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