Combining polynucs to Nationals?

[fred scuttle]

I've got a few colonies in Pay*es poly nucs which I've been using as part of my artificial swarming control and now need to combine them back with Nationals, does anyone have any tips around doing this as the polys all have welded in mesh floors and are obviously a different size to the cedar national brood boxes? I'm guessing that I need to shift them into national brood boxes as well prior to the merging but have used up my budget and don't really want to buy yet more national hives just for the combining.. Just wondered what other more experienced beeks do in this instance? thanks

 

[protheroe]

Can't you borrow a national box to do the combine.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I've got a few colonies in Pay*es poly nucs which I've been using as part of my artificial swarming control and now need to combine them back with Nationals, does anyone have any tips around doing this as the polys all have welded in mesh floors and are obviously a different size to the cedar national brood boxes? I'm guessing that I need to shift them into national brood boxes as well prior to the merging but have used up my budget and don't really want to buy yet more national hives just for the combining.. Just wondered what other more experienced beeks do in this instance? thanks

Take a piece of 12mm or more thick plywood or chipboard cut to the footprint of your national. Cut a hole in the centre of it adequate to cover the brood frames of the poly hive. Remove the roof and clear cover sheet of the poly hive, sit the board you have just made centrally on top, then queen excluder, newspaper with a few cuts, national brood box on the board and away you go.
Make sure everything is balanced and unlikely to be knocked /blown over.
Save the adapter board for future use

 

[oliver90owner]

Buy a brood box and re-use it. No need to buy several. Just means uniting two colonies at a time.

Simple alternative - use a couple of shallows for the unite. Or one shallow and an eke. Ekes are simple enough to make and useful at other times.

Most experienced beeks likely think about these things well in advance, and sort out any mods required before buying.

Brood boxes (with temporary floors and roofs?) are better than A/Sing into nucs. Always need more brood boxes than nucs unless rearing queens, etc; awways need spare shallows around; don't need any more nuc boxes than necessary. Deeps can be dummied down, as required, for smaller colonies.

Keeping it simple and thinking through the options first is what I do. And I would never spend all the money budgetted - keep some back for just such eventualities.

 

[Dan Job]

Get a poly brood from paynes £15.

 

[itma]

I've got a few colonies in Pay*es poly nucs ... and now need to combine them back with Nationals ... I'm guessing that I need to shift them into national brood boxes as well prior to the merging but have used up my budget and don't really want to buy yet more national hives just for the combining..

Your profile says 9 colonies.
Really, you should invest in at least one spare brood box.
Sell about 4 or 5 jars of honey and buy a cheapie non-cedar ("deal" or "softwood") flatpack brood box (eg from Paynes) for about £25 (in-season pricing -- such things are cheaper in the sales, but you need something now).
Or sell a single nuc colony and buy two or three of them.

Get a poly brood from paynes £15.

The extra nuc brood boxes from Paynes are extraordinarily useful in all sorts of ways.
Rather than try and balance a national brood and roof on top of a nuc, one could have a better arrangement by putting the (extra) nuc brood on top of the bigger DN box (using a similar interface board as suggested) and weatherproof the arrangement with a pegged or weighted-down plastic sheet.
The extra nuc brood from Paynes is actually £18, not £15 (and so useful that I am now up to 3 for my 5 nucs.)

 

[Obee1]

You could buy a national cedar brood box for £18.96 plus postage from mann lake. I bought several and they are good value. Failing that I'd go down the making a template route.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Simple alternative - use a couple of shallows for the unite. Or one shallow and an eke. Ekes are simple enough to make and useful at other times.

That's probably the easiest option, along with Gilberdyke John's template and a ratchet strap or two. They shouldn't need to be in place for more than a few days.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

That's probably the easiest option, along with Gilberdyke John's template and a ratchet strap or two. They shouldn't need to be in place for more than a few days.

I used an old flat faced 18" wide door from a kitchen base unit to make mine. Total cost nil.