Bee Package and Queen Question

[trulli1]

Would it work if I had to buy a package of bees from company A and a mated queen from Company B, put them all together in a nuc, queen in her cage and let the bees build nice nuc to tranfer eventually into a hive?

I'm not actually wanting to do this, but was just thinking of alternative means on getting a nuc of bees.

 

[thurrock bees]

If you buy a package of bees, they should come with a Queen

 

[trulli1]

Ok, sorry, lets rather say a package of bees without queen from company A and a mated queen from company B, if thats possible, would that still work?

 

[BKF Admin]

Yes it would work.
You would introduce the purchased queen from company B in the queen cage she came in after you have removed the attendants she came with.

If you remove the queen from package A you would leave them queenless for 24 hours(you can leave for less time) before introducing queen B.

 

[mbc]

queenless package from company A would be a roaring mass of pissed off bees , killing each other by suffocation as they strugled to get out of the box.
On introduction of queen from company B roaring mass of pissed off bees would quickly form a cluster round said queen an d quieten down within minutes


You need a queen to hold a package of bees together

 

[oliver90owner]

I would not be doing that. Waste of time, space and money.

Expensive, bees are used to the queen in the package and if a failure.....

You can always re-queen later, when the colony is established. It is still better to buy right and buy once. To whom do you address any complaint if things go wrong?

RAB

 

[taff..]

I would not be doing that. Waste of time, space and money.

Expensive, bees are used to the queen in the package and if a failure.....

You can always re-queen later, when the colony is established. It is still better to buy right and buy once. To whom do you address any complaint if things go wrong?

RAB

I understand what you are saying regarding any complaints, but isn't this basically what the sellers of packages do on a regular basis.

rear lots and lots of bees and then sell them with a caged queen, often from a supplier and not from their own stock?


My question would be, how have you come to the scenario where you are considering doing this?

 

[oliver90owner]

What's your question Taff. Is it directed at me (my included 'quote') or the original poster?

I would guess that most 'packages' are imported bees.

RAB

 

[taff..]

What's your question Taff. Is it directed at me (my included 'quote') or the original poster?

I would guess that most 'packages' are imported bees.

RAB

sorry its not clear.

my understanding is that people like mike in Gloucester sells packages made up of bees that he has reared himself, and with queens that he has imported as he can't rear enough queens to satisfy demand himself.

is that not pretty much the same thing as the OP is intending to do except that the bees will be queenless for a while longer than in mike's packages?

 

[trulli1]

Taff,

I think you basically hit the nail on the head, I am waiting for a "nuc" of bees with the queen from Mike, but it is basically just a package with a queen still in her cage... not really a true nuc then is it? Please correct me if I am wrong...

 

[Hivemaker.]

If they come with five frames,combination of food and brood it is a nuc,even if the queen is added and not the mother of all in the nuc,if they come as three and a half pound of loose bee's in a box,no frames or brood,with queen in cage then it is a package.........shook swarm.

 

[Poly Hive]

Can we be clear on whidh is what.

A nuc is a baby colony which comprises x number of frames of brood which belongs to the resident queen as should the bees.

A package is a unit of bees sold by weight usually in units of three or five pounds (with the understanding there are 5000 bees per pound) and "a" queen which may or may not belong to the bees but by the time you get them she will be their queen.

These are two quite different beasts.

However the packages I hived last year I have to say took of like wild fire and were very successful. From Mr Roberts.

PH

 

[grizzly]

How are they this Spring ?

 

[Hivemaker.]

A nuc is a baby colony which comprises x number of frames of brood which belongs to the resident queen as should the bees.


So what is 4 frames of bee's/brood,say carniolans,1 frames of stores,and an Australian or other queen added,which is also what Mike sells.

 

[oliver90owner]

Hivemaker,

So what is 4 frames of bee's/brood,say carniolans,1 frames of stores,and an Australian or other queen added

It, too, is classed as a nuc.

Unfortunate perhaps, but there may well be no way of telling the difference between offspring belonging to that queen or not.

I know which I would prefer. I know that my nucs may not start as PH would define, but they most certainly would not be passed, for conversion to full colony, until that identity prevailed, or very near so (not all the original brood in the nuc would have expired).

Much less risk of supercedure (given good mating conditions), and the nature of the full colony can be better predicted (not all my queens are perfect!!).

I don't market queens, nucs or packages, btw.

Regards, RAB

 

[Hivemaker.]

It, too, is classed as a nuc.


Yes of course it is,thank you,did not know this.

 

[Haughton Honey]

Who's Mr.Roberts PH?

 

[Poly Hive]

Mine over wintered well.

I lost some of my nucs over winter but then I expected to.

Mr Roberts is Mike of *******.

PH

 

[BKF Admin]

Am I right in thinking that the BBKA once registered the definition of a nuc with the British standards council,but it got expensive to renew so they dropped it?

 

[rae]

Mine over wintered well.

I lost some of my nucs over winter but then I expected to.

Mr Roberts is Mike of *******.

PH

Mine are also of Mr Robert's origin, grew well last year, got off to a cracking start this year, and I have just artificial swarmed both of them.

Our first colony came as a nuc "package + queen + frames" - the queen was still in her cage, the bees were clearly of different origin to the queen, as her offspring have all been dark, the original bees were very yellow.

The second colony was a traditional nuc - queen amongst the frames, the bees have stayed the same colour.