Correct timing?

[bpmurray]

I plan on addressing the hive with a drone-laying queen tomorrow. Finman suggested a rather simple approach - move the hive away and put a new hive on the stand, so that the flyers return to the new hive, leaving what he calls the "little bug" alone in the old hive. I'll unite the population with a healthy nuc so hopefully I'll have a healthy hive at that point.

As I see it, my choices are:

• Move the nuc into the new hive straightaway so that the old flyers return to that and have to be accepted to enter.
• Place the new hive and put the nuc above (in a brood box), essentially immediately starting the unification.
• Place the new hive with brood and wait a few days before adding the nuc. Of course, by this stage they'll have started drawing down queen cells which I don't really want.

Which of these makes most sense?

Another problem is that the nuc is actually located about 500m from this apiary. What's the best way to prevent the nuc flyers from returning to the original site?

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I plan on addressing the hive with a drone-laying queen tomorrow. Finman suggested a rather simple approach - move the hive away and put a new hive on the stand, so that the flyers return to the new hive, leaving what he calls the "little bug" alone in the old hive. I'll unite the population with a healthy nuc so hopefully I'll have a healthy hive at that point.

As I see it, my choices are:

• Move the nuc into the new hive straightaway so that the old flyers return to that and have to be accepted to enter.
• Place the new hive and put the nuc above (in a brood box), essentially immediately starting the unification.
• Place the new hive with brood and wait a few days before adding the nuc. Of course, by this stage they'll have started drawing down queen cells which I don't really want.

Which of these makes most sense?

Another problem is that the nuc is actually located about 500m from this apiary. What's the best way to prevent the nuc flyers from returning to the original site?

I united a queenless hive with a q+ hive by putting the relocated colony above a newspaper barrier and the existing hive fliers continued business as normal. By the time the relocated bees had made it through the paper into the bottom box they had forgotten about their old site. You could put a mop up box on the old site if you are worried about lost bees.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just shake out asll the bees on to the ground a few yards in front of the other hives and let them beg themselves in to a new home

 

[Swarm]

Just shake out asll the bees on to the ground a few yards in front of the other hives and let them beg themselves in to a new home

 

[bpmurray]

I think I'll follow Finman's suggestion and move the hive, allowing the bees to return to a new hive. In a few days, I'll shake out the original hive, and unite the nuc to the now Q- hive.