Apidea mating nuc

[macow]

Hi All,
Thought i would get ahead today so unwrapped the Apidea mating nucs only to find no instructions!!
Please, Please would anyone have some instructions (electronic) or point me towards some? I have googled it but with no luck.
Thanks

Mark

 

[RoofTops]

Here's a starter for 10. Different model of mini-nuc but same concept.
http://www.beedata.com/data2/mininucs.html

You don't have to use a funnel with a queen excluder fitted. These are probably best for volume production but I find you can just give a frame a quick shake to knock off the older bees and then scan it by eye for drones, having of course first found and put the queen somewhere safe. I have heard of a method where you shake all the bees onto a cloth beside the hive and leave them for a while. I haven't tried this method but I gues it also works. The flying bees will return to the hive and the non-flying young bees will be left behind. It is these young bees you want for the mini-nuc. Others may have their own systems for selecting young bees. I also spray the bees with water once a day through the mesh when they are confined for 3 days. I don't think this was mentioned on the link.

There are variations on the timetable, I like to add the queen cell 24 hours before she emerges. Others run the virgin in alive after she has emerged.

 

[Poly Hive]

to get young bees know where the queen is and if you like put some frames above an excluder, frames of open brood this is, so as to filter out the drones.

When ready have a sprayer of water ready and a pressure sprayer is really best for this. Much more effective and faster.

Spray the frame and shake the bees into your container.

I was taught to leave them in the box over night, make up the mini nucs the next day and leave them queenless for a further two days. By they they realise that they are really queenless and broodless and doomed.

When you slip in the virgin and they are best with one of those first, they are so pleased to see her they take to her immediately. Hold them over night again and let fly the next day.

There after use queencells and it should be possible to get four in a season. This year three might be more realistic.

I will add here that my teacher literally wrote the book on Mini's. Mating in minature.

PH

 

[Bcrazy]

Good post PH.

Regards;

 

[macow]

Thanks Everyone,
Some really useful info that will come in handy when I make them up, really appreciate it. My problem however is a bit more basic at this stage.
I suppose that I should have made it clearer in my post but what I am really looking for is some instructions on how to put the nuc boxes together as I seem to have some bits that I am not sure where they fit. They look like Q-excluders but they are grey and quite long?

All the best
Marc

 

[marcros]

Thanks Everyone,
Some really useful info that will come in handy when I make them up, really appreciate it. My problem however is a bit more basic at this stage.
I suppose that I should have made it clearer in my post but what I am really looking for is some instructions on how to put the nuc boxes together as I seem to have some bits that I am not sure where they fit. They look like Q-excluders but they are grey and quite long?

All the best
Marc

Macow,

There shouldnt be too much to go wrong with. There is a mesh grill to go by the entrance, 3 frames to assemble, and there is a tiny piece of queen excluder that you dont really need. On mine, these bits are all red, and the frames orange- sometimes colours are different, so yours may be grey. There is also a top cover, which has peelable plastic on, which fits below the roof.

If you are still struggling, take a quick photo and post on here!

Mark

 

[Heather]

Have pm'd you. Can send

 

[Busy Bee]

Hi,

I was at a bee lecture on Queen rearing and the guy speaking was of the opinion that yes by all means use Mini Nuc's but on tests 5 (or higher) colonies will obcond the hive unless you use brood on the mini frames. He said they where more acustomed to warmer climate than our temperate weather here and that making 5 frame nuc's was a better option. Does anyone agree?



Busy Bee

 

[Heather]

Hmm -will let you know. I have my apideas in a shed with pipes out as entrance. Hope the extra warmth will encourage- then will move on to Nucs- if havent sold queen.
Have 5 lovely hives to breed from . Checked all today- Drones roaming in 2- No smoke- all just continued working- no aggression- such a joy to examine..

 

[Poly Hive]

Sorry to say busy bee but I think that is just rubbish.

I have used them for over 20 years and yes you get the odd one absconding but not many.

Sounds like your lecturer didn't understand how to set them up.

PH

 

[RoofTops]

The mating success from full size nucs is generally considered better than mini-nucs and that has certainly been my experience. However, the point of mini-nucs is you need less bees.

 

[Poly Hive]

Well Rootops that is a new one.

Generally considered by whom?

Properly set up they work very well. However and this is the moot point they ARE more difficult to set up than chucking a few frames in a nuc box and bragging about the queen rearing program!

PH

 

[mbc]

Hi,

I was at a bee lecture on Queen rearing and the guy speaking was of the opinion that yes by all means use Mini Nuc's but on tests 5 (or higher) colonies will obcond the hive unless you use brood on the mini frames. He said they where more acustomed to warmer climate than our temperate weather here and that making 5 frame nuc's was a better option. Does anyone agree?



Busy Bee

I agree (partially )
I find I get better matings with good size nucs posibly because of the hopelessness of the situation the bees find themselves in when in apidea's they send the virgins out whatever the weather while a five frame nuc isnt so desperate. If the weather hasnt been good I'm allways suspicious of queens mated early in apidea's. Having said that if the weathers good apidea's will mate queens very well at a far cheaper cost in resources than a 5 frame nuc

 

[Busy Bee]

I agree (partially )
Having said that if the weathers good apidea's will mate queens very well at a far cheaper cost in resources than a 5 frame nuc

Mmmm, I would imagine if the weather is correct it would'nt really matter the queens would mate quicker anyhow unless it was a large colony. Someone says it takes less bees but the lectureer was of the opinion that it took alot of bees espically if you are rearing queens in numbers jenter/cup kits.

Thr general conclusion I got, was, if you have up to 10 hives, 5 frames nuc's would be the safest and least complicated way of queen rearing...
Anyone agree...


Busy Bee

 

[macow]

Thank you everyone. Heather has very kindly been able to send me a copy of the instructions

Many Thanks

Mark

 

[mbc]

I did hear ( anectodaly ) that workers help orientate the virgins prior to the mating flight by flying with them some distance. This would certainly explain the excitment I've sometimes observed as a virgin leaves a hive and what seems like half the colony leaves with her only to return later. Different behaviour to a cast swarm as they do this without leaving cells or other virgins in the hive.
This would also help explain a higher incidence of poor matings from tiny colonies as there wouldnt be so many workers to help the virgin
Does anybody know if this is true ?
Do workers help the virgins orientate ?
How could this be proven experimentaly?
Anyway, just some thoughts, I for one will continue to use apidea's , five frame nucs and split brood boxes for my queen rearing because these are the bits of kit i have

 

[RoofTops]

This is what is described in Tautz's book. It makes sense as the alternative is that the queen, who has the poorest eyesight of all the castes, can find her way to the drone congregation area and then back again without having made any orientation flights. Part of the evidence was sampling bees which appeared to be doing orientation flights themselves, flying backwards near the hive entrance, and finding they were not young bees but experienced foragers. His suggestion, backed I understand by obervation was they were waiting for the virgin queen to emerge.

 

[mbc]

Just google'd tautz and discovered a knew book for my wish list !
Thank you Rooftops

 

[beebreeder]

I have the book and it is very good and puts forward some new ideas, also the photo quality is excellent.
kev

 

[Polyanwood]

Stupid Question re: Apideas

I thought I couldn't possibly not work this out, but I can't...Doh!

I can't put them together properly. When I attempt to put the frames together they won't fit in the nuc....well they will if you squash them in... is that correct? are they a tight fit? and although I can work out how to put in the big grille to let them breathe...how do you fit in the small ones which look like they are the entrance adaptors??
Thanks

K