Does Sealed Brood Need Good Bee Cover?

[Swift Nick]

At the weekend I set up a 3 frame nuc for a queen I have due to be delivered this week, so I can recombine when the queen has been accepted in the nuc and starts laying, at which point I will remove the old queen from the main hive, which produces defensive bees which follow a long way from the hive.
I shook in extra bees when I made the nuc. When I looked at the nuc today it probably has 1 seam of bees, less than expected, more must have returned to the main hive than I thought.
However 2 frames of the three in the nuc are packed with sealed brood, does this sealed brood need good bee cover to emerge, or would it be unaffected by the lack of bees?
If so it may be a good thing as the new queen will be surrounded by young bees in a week or so after introduction.
The nuc is a poly nuc, so it will maintain heat quite well.
Thanks Nick

 

[Millet]

The title i read... the rest i read...sealed brood needs cover... time out... good night.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

The brood needs nurse bees not manky old foragers. The way I've been told to get young nurse bees is, once you're sure the queen is not on the frame, to fairly gently shake a frame in its box.This dislodges the older bees. Next, you quite vigorously shake the frame into the nuc so the the younger nurse bees let go. Hey presto - young bees in the nuc.

CVB

 

[user 6228]

The number of bees and their proximity to the brood is, in part, determined by the rate of nest heat loss. if you compare a frame in PIR hive to that of a conventional wooden hive, the difference is striking

 

[Curley]

Hi Nick
As for CVB to get the bees in there in the first place - and in the summer from the supers but that doesn't help your situation now.
A. Probably alright - cover up the open mesh floor with something (from below) to keep as much heat in there as possible. Capped brood doesn't get/need as much bee cover as open brood.
B. You could shake some more bees in there from the parent colony - doubt the hive smell has diverged much yet as it is queenless.
Don't do B if you are feeding.

Stand by for divergent views.

Best of luck - D.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Another good way to get nurse bees in from any other hive is to shake a few frames onto a slope in front of the nuc. The flying bees will fly off and the nurse bees will walk into the nuc unchallenged.
Or.... tip a few frames of bees into a poly lid and leave for a few minutes then tip the remaining nurse bees into the nuc

 

[Swift Nick]

Hi Nick
As for CVB to get the bees in there in the first place - and in the summer from the supers but that doesn't help your situation now.
A. Probably alright - cover up the open mesh floor with something (from below) to keep as much heat in there as possible. Capped brood doesn't get/need as much bee cover as open brood.
B. You could shake some more bees in there from the parent colony - doubt the hive smell has diverged much yet as it is queenless.
Don't do B if you are feeding.

Stand by for divergent views.

Best of luck - D.

Thank you D, I will cover the floor tonight, I am feeding, so won’t add more bees.
We have a warm forecast for Friday pm, so I will get a good look then prior to putting the new queen in.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Make sure all emergency queen cells are destroyed before introducing the new queen.

 

[Swift Nick]

Make sure all emergency queen cells are destroyed before introducing the new queen.

Yes, I will, thanks.
I generally do that the day before introducing, so the bees are not stressed when adding the caged queen.
On this occasion to conserve the heat in the hive I was going to take out the emergency cells & introduce at the same time, tomorrow.
Any thoughts on if it is OK to remove emergency cells / introduce at the same visit? Does it increase the chance of queen rejection?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Any thoughts on if it is OK to remove emergency cells / introduce at the same visit? Does it increase the chance of queen rejection?

That will be fine, usually do just that.