Advice re newly made up nuc please

[JCD]

Hi,
I hope it's not too daft a question....I've just made up a nucleus with 3 frames of BIAS, another one of stores/pollen, and two drawn but empty comb, from a prolific hive. Assuming that the flying bees have all returned to the original hive.......how will the house bees cope without water? Will they be alright until the house bees fly ? or should I drizzle some water on the tops of the frames daily until I see that the bees are flying? They are in a OMF 6 frame poly nuc.

Thank you
J

 

[Jaxx]

I wouldn't disturb them daily, is it one of the poly nucs that has a feeder? You could give them some 1:1 syrup if you were worried about them not getting enough water.

 

[mojomoo]

They need a fame of stores

 

[Cellectronic]

Interesting topic, Could I please ask what is BIAS ? is it a frame of eggs, larva and capped brood ?
Reason for asking is I would like to make a nuc up at some point .
Thanks in advance.

 

[herefordshirehoney]

Brood In All Stages, exactly that eggs, larva and capped brood

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

BIAS is Brood In All Stages.
I think (int he absence of any other pointers) that the OP is conducting a 'walk away' split that is, there is everything in that box apart from a queen - the aim is for the workers to feel queenless and build emergency QC's if so it would be pudent to go in after four days and destroy any sealed QC's thus ensuring that the QC that will go on to lead the colony will be produced from the youngest larvae possible.
But I may be wrong (Frequently am) and the OP is awaiting a queen to arrive shortly by mail?

 

[JCD]

Yep...it's a 'walk away' split as you put it. I felt pressured into doing something.....my prolific hive had 8 full frames of brood in the main BB, and 5 frames of brood in the half brood box. I decided, rightly or wrongly, to do a split now......there is not another queen organised for the nuc. Maybe I should have waited for queen cells and then done an AS...... I suspect that I shall still be doing that in due course. I was just curious/concerned about how the nuc will manage without flyers to fetch water.
Having slept on it.....I'm thinking you might tell me that I should have just given the prolific hive another brood box? I gave them a super on the top a couple of weeks ago, just so that they'd have somewhere else to go.

Thank you
J

 

[oliver90owner]

So they had the equivalent of about 6 deep more frames to brood in?

Not yet the time to be doing splits, given our awful weather up to the recent few days.

Expecting a three frame nuc (don't know how many house bees were actually added) is a recipe for failure in the queens stakes. Especially in a six frame nuc hive.

You would, IMO, have been far better off thinking a bit more about keeping your present large colony expanding. There is that super to consider - is it being filled, how much? and could the two drawn combs (used to cool the nuc down) have been better used by exchanging a couple frames from the colony. Indeed, is it still expanding? No mention of this in your post. Are there lots of emerged drones in the colony yet. I think you have missed quite a few tricks, but will likely get away with a poor queen in your walk-away split, but later down the line it will show up as supercedure or a failed queen, non-mated, etc. Far better to keep the beekeeping simple and at least wait until there are other swarms in the area.

 

[JCD]

Aaahhh.....what if......I put them back into the main colony on Sunday, removing any queen cells as I go, and then put them on double brood. It would actually be 2 1/2 brood until the brood in the half brood emerges. Is that a better plan ? The colony is still very much expanding, and I'm dreading missing a queen cell once they decide to swarm!
I appreciate all the advice. Thank you. J

 

[enrico]

Don't get too paranoid about swarms! The chances are however careful you are you will have one anyway if they are that prolific. If you manage to hive the swarm nothing is lost, if you fail to keep it then its not the end of the world. I would personally have waited for a queen cell and then gone down the AS road but...... All I am trying to say is that it is easy to worry too much! Enjoy!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Aaahhh.....what if......I put them back into the main colony on Sunday, removing any queen cells as I go, and then put them on double brood. It would actually be 2 1/2 brood until the brood in the half brood emerges. Is that a better plan ? The colony is still very much expanding, and I'm dreading missing a queen cell once they decide to swarm!
I appreciate all the advice. Thank you. J

You're commited now and it would be a bit of a mess to re-unite I would stick to your convictions and carry on - no choice really.

 

[oliver90owner]

You're commited now and it would be a bit of a mess to re-unite ...

As JBM, but next time ... list all the possible alternatives before being rushed into any one particular route.

That is why my post was in that particular tense (future pluperfect? - Luminos will tell us, I hope, if I am wrong).

 

[Suzi Q]

Future pluperfect, is that an esoteric grammatical term? So it is!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I thought it was a cocktail containing blueberry juice!

 

[Luminos]

I thought it was a cocktail containing blueberry juice!

What do they teach them in skools these days, eh, O90O?

 

[oliver90owner]

Certainly not a lot of Latin!!

RAB

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

What do they teach them in skools these days, eh, O90O?

Give me a break - English is my second language - and i had to cope with french and Latin as well in secondary school!

 

[Compostcritter]

Hi
I have been fortunate to have the same situation, I wanted to transfer from standards to 14 x 12, so yesterday. The standard was spilt 50:50 into 2x 14x 12 brood boxes ensuring that both broods had an equal split of brood, food, house bees,ensuring that there was recently laid eggs in both, I will gradually remove the standard frames over the next few months. The two broods were then housed next to each other slightly apart from the original site facing the other direction, so the flying bees were confused and would enter both brood boxes. I will now leave them for a week before going back in to choose the best looking queen cell, weather dependant. Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes!

 

[Luminos]

Give me a break - English is my second language - and i had to cope with french and Latin as well in secondary school!

Ah, sorry, JBM - it was just a comment, not aimed at anyone in particular.
And I bet your Welsh is much better than mine

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Ah, sorry, JBM - it was just a comment, not aimed at anyone in particular.
And I bet your Welsh is much better than mine

No offence taken -Well, I use it every day so that does help - your French is probably a lot better than mine no doubt - on our honeymoon to Mont San Michel I tried to impress SWMBO with my use of rudimentary French whilst ordering some supplies for a picnic (BTW - what is French for Picnic?) I couldn't understand why the young girl behind the counter looked at me in horror and was about to burst into tears but anyway by reverting to the good old British standby of waving my arms around and talking very loudly, it was all sorted, it was only on leaving the shop red faced and clutching my mouth watering rotisserie chicken I realised - I'd asked her for a spit-roasted prostitute SWMBO went to get the baguette and pastries ah well say lavvie