Cardboard nuc ventilation in April (ish)

[charentejohn]

Just getting ready for next year and will be collecting 2x 3 dadant frames of bees in April. I am in france and this sort of question to the supplier can be tricky so...
I have two BEENUK cardboard nuc boxes which say they are well insulated being thick cardboard. So far so good. They have been supplied assembled with mesh in what would be the openings to lift the box, at the top at the ends. The floor has possible openings with mesh but currently closed.

In April it should be ok here as regards weather. Supplier will sell when she thinks the weather will be ok for a couple of days or more. In April night temp can be about 5c.
I will be collecting at night and then a 1hr drive home. I will put them in a workshop which is part ventilated but no winds blowing on the hive.

Does the mesh high up at either end sound ok or will it allow too much air out. Will be there for about 12+hrs until temp rises next day and I can transfer them to their real home.
Just concerned that these may be too high and a bottom opening may be better.

 

[Michael Palmer]

A good strong nuc in a cardboard nuc shipping box can easily overheat if the temps go up. The boxes I use have screen on both ends, and I leave the flaps over the screens open once the boxes are well stocked.

 

[Ian123]

Is the nuc travel box from the U.K.? Are you sure the frames are compatible with the box

 

[sipa]

Don't mess around..... Get whoever is supplying you bees to put them in their usual shipping boxes and follow their advice. Then all should be fine.

 

[Anduril]

http://www.apijuneda.com/en/beenuk.htm
If it is normal practice in France to supply your own boxes and these boxes come from Spain. After reading the blurb, sounds fine to me. I have received bees in a correx box with a similar setup and another supplier with 9mm ply nuc boxes with ventilation.

 

[charentejohn]

Thanks for all the info. The box is a Dadant box so will fit the frames, I bought a dadant frame so I would have something to make sure my adapters were correct and they fit ok. Only complaint is no lower frame supports, so I will have to make some.
External day temp should be about 20c at midday but lower overnight. The concern about overheating is a slight positve in that they should help keep the heat in. It is only for one night, the bees will be ok just cocerned for the brood. I know they will maintain their temp themselves but good airflow is also needed ? I will leave the two openings open just the height that concerned me.

The supplier does use plain cardboard boxes which would do the job. The web site says she will load one of these with bees one evening and you call the next day sometime to collect. Would have been my preference but each time I ask I get the same response, turn up in the evening, we will load up your box and when dark seal the box and off you go.
Daytime collection would be easier but I give up. Decided I may as well buy robust boxes for my, or others, future use.

A side issue is. These are 5 frame boxes but I am only buying 3 frames. Similar, heat / ventilation question I suppose but do I need to reduce the box internal size of will they be ok with just 3 frames in the centre (or to one side).
I can ask the supplier what they do but would be nice to know what they should say.

 

[Anduril]

It is only for one day, I wouldn't worry. One supplier I used didn't like people turning up in the afternoon due to returning bees drifting. One question I have is the queen with the three frames, is she a recently introduced queen in a cage or is she the one who has laid up the frames?

 

[charentejohn]

I will double check but it says new or overwintered queen. So she will, I assume, be the one who laid the brood on the frame so is ready to go. The 3 frames are one brood, one stores and one general frame.

She has about 100 hives so I ssume the process is she sells 3 frames and a queen and the orignal hive creates a new one. With 100 other hives fertilisation locally is pretty much guaranteed. Any stragglers will just rejoin the original hive.

I will try to visit in person in the new year to have a chat. She does this to help expand the bee population as much as for a living. 3 frames are 85 euros and 5 frames later in the year are 110 euros which is cheap here. It isn't the price it is the quality really. She says her bees are buckfast (ish) and calm.
You can translate the site, not much text https://s1dabeilles.jimdo.com/

 

[Repwoc]

I ssume the process is she sells 3 frames and a queen and the orignal hive creates a new one.

So long as she isn't just making up nucs with one frame of brood and letting them raise their own queens.

One frame of brood sounds a bit weak to me. I generally put three in mine.

 

[charentejohn]

She does do 2 or 3 frames of brood but in June / July as part of a 5 or 6 frame package. I am willing to feed and encourage them on in April as I want them to move down into a warre as soon as possible, so 3 frames means nowhere else to go but downwards, I hope. Lots of forage here in spring so better for them than where they started as she has lots of hives foraging the same area.

I did think of the 5 frame option but I would end up with 5 frames of stores when 3 would be better. As soon as I see comb and the queen moving to the 2nd warre box then I will remove the dadant frames. I can check them to see no brood cells, move all bees off them and then all warre. I am leaving them then to do as they like, hence the warre

 

[Anduril]

Considering the size of frame, price and temperature it looks good value. Any online revues or word of mouth endorsements?

 

[mazzamazda]

I sell colonies on 2 frames, similar frame size to dadant, these go in a cardboard box which could hold 5 frames, I top and side ventilate with mesh around 20cm square, better to over ventilate than under. The queen goes in a plastic cage as we have had some killed in transport so be careful with that, even when in an established colony. Always better to see what you are buying....

 

[charentejohn]

Just seen the last two posts, so just to let you know. I will make sure I see the queen, I have to be there when all is transferred so I will make sure she shows me where she is. I will also make sure the frames are held solidly in the box and can't move around.

I found the supplier from a newspaper article saying she was doing this to repopulate, she doesn't sell honey, only bees. I assume honey is a by product but not her actual job.
Even with 100 hives she will never be rich I think. Prices are not excessive and she lost half the hives to pesticide spraying in 2019... If for no other reason I think it is worth supporting her efforts, and she will be selling bees as described.
I asked last year but was too late, she had bees but said they could struggle at that stage. Someone less ethical could have sold them anyway and let it be my problem.