Best way to add colonies?

[Nic Rhodes]

Welcome back Pete

 

[Finman]

Interestingly, all I've read about walk away splits

Of course you may do them if you want. But there is nothing splended in it.

 

[mbc]

Of course you may do them if you want. But there is nothing splended in it.

As a system it has a lot more appeal to me than continuously buying in queens.

 

[Finman]

Interestingly, all I've read about walk away splits

You may do walk away queens, nucs and what ever. But I say that it makes no sense in that hobby level where we talk.

It is easier to split a swarming hive. 4 box hive has 40 frames. A hive makes 20 queen cells.

So you split the hive into 20 nucs and to each nuc 2 frames of bees and one foundation. It is simple. ....But what then? You have 20 miserable nucs and you may do 200 nucs from 10 swarming hives.

That need not much imagination. But what then?

Once I made 12 nucs from one hive and I needed only 12 frames of bees to make one frame nucs.
The queen larvae were crafted. Their origin was good and nothing emercengy case.

But ti make from them wintering colonies is a another story.
.

 

[mbc]

You may do walk away queens, nucs and what ever. But I say that it makes no sense in that hobby level where we talk.

It is easier to split a swarming hive. 4 box hive has 40 frames. A hive makes 20 queen cells.

So you split the hive into 20 nucs and to each nuc 2 frames of bees and one foundation. It is simple. ....But what then? You have 20 miserable nucs and you may do 200 nucs from 10 swarming hives.

That need not much imagination. But what then?

I think the main advantage of the walk away split is that you only get one daughter from each split sothat you are preserving the genes of all your good hives - not just one chosen breedeer queen.

 

[Finman]

As a system it has a lot more appeal to me than continuously buying in queens.

Or you rear yoursef good queens.

I rear my queen nowadays so that I graft swarming cells. I change the larvae and the queen will be far from emercengy queens. Then I take from same hive the nuc bees with frames and carry the nucs to another yeard.

But the amount of bees needed to nucs that they can build up and take care themselves, it is huge in main yield period. They are not free. First you loose that hive's yield, 100 kg honey. then you need more bees from hives.

If you take 20% bees from a hive, it is not able to carry surplus.
That is the way how it goes.

 

[Finman]

.
OK, you have 10 hives and then you add them to 100. It is possible because your skills follows your challenges.

But from where you get customers who bye that honey in good price.

Then you invest 1 million pound to the farm where you may run 100 hives or 1000 hives. - In that moment --- where is your wife and her steady work? Don.t worry with that old hag price you get 4 Georgian girl. Smile...

 

[sugarbush]

So you split the hive into 20 nucs and to each nuc 2 frames of bees and one foundation. It is simple. ....But what then? You have 20 miserable nucs and you may do 200 nucs from 10 swarming hives.

That need not much imagination. But what then?
.

Or you rear yoursef good queens.


But the amount of bees needed to nucs that they can build up and take care themselves, it is huge in main yield period. They are not free. First you loose that hive's yield, 100 kg honey. then you need more bees from hives.

What is 100 kg of honey worth to you? If I take your 20 "miserable nucs" and give them a month or so to build up, I can get $2500.00 for them. Pretty good return on one miserable hive.

 

[Finman]

What is 100 kg of honey worth to you? If I take your 20 "miserable nucs" and give them a month or so to build up, I can get $2500.00 for them. Pretty good return on one miserable hive.

100 kg honey is 700 euros from customer. 10 queens and price is 70 euros a piece.

hey Buddy. When you have a walk away nuc, in first month nothing happened in the nuc. The queen is just started to lay.

3 frames nuc builds up not a bit in one month. I know that very well.

Do you sell 3 frame nucs? 2500 dollars from one nuc or from all 20.
125 dollars a piece? after two months?

We have summer over then and those nucs will die.

.

 

[dpearce4]

Sugarbush and Finman could you please agree to differ on this one please. your both good for the forum as you both bring very different things to it. it would be a shame if you fell out over this small issue.

your both in diff parts of the world. diff things work in diff areas.

 

[Finman]

.
I tell you a better way to become rich.

You have one hectare field. It is 10 000 square metres.

Then you grow corn flowers. You sell a buch of flowers 5 pounds a piece.
From one square metre you get 10 bunches.

10 b x 5 £ x 10 000 = 500 000 £. And with only one hectare and one months work.

 

[oliver90owner]

Let's remember..... how many extra colonies did the OP want? Two, wasn't it?

 

[tonybloke]

Let's remember..... how many extra colonies did the OP want? Two, wasn't it?

 

[dpearce4]

.
I tell you a better way to become rich.

You have one hectare field. It is 10 000 square metres.

Then you grow corn flowers. You sell a buch of flowers 5 pounds a piece.
From one square metre you get 10 bunches.

10 b x 5 £ x 10 000 = 500 000 £. And with only one hectare and one months work.

 

[Finman]

.

And now scores

 

[sugarbush]

No worries Depearce... If I haven't fallen out with Finman in the last 8 or so years, we aren't going to now. I have known him as Finsky, Bobo, and Finman...

Finman:

Traditionally a walkaway is done in August, over wintered and then sold in the spring or used to increase apiary size.

The 125.00 each is the current average for a 5 frame Nuc. In the US a nuc is 5 frames or as previously mentioned, half a single hive body. We don't make or sell nucs that are less than 5 frames.

Some northern beeks here break down all their hives into nucs every fall using the walkaway method.

The only reason so much of this nations bees are reared in the south is because we can. Queens are being grafted right now in Texas, they can be mated and shipped north for pollination by early March. If we relied on only northern stock we would not have queens in time for the apple bloom which hits the first week of May. The earliest I can get my own queens mated in this area would be mid June.

As Brother Adam said; The honey bee cannot be acclimated. They are adaptable insects and do well in a range of climates.... I don't know what type of bee you use, but most of them in the US originated from much warmer climates and have done well from the deep south to Alaska.

I have no idea what a corn flower is or why anybody would want one.

 

[oliver90owner]

I have no idea what a corn flower is

A-maize-ing? I don't know, just guessing

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I have no idea what a corn flower is or why anybody would want one.

Dinky little blue flower

 

[mbc]

I have no idea what a corn flower is

A-maize-ing? I don't know, just guessing

no need to be so corny !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

no need to be so corny !

That 'corny' comment is a bit corny innit?