Donating a nuc

[italic63]

Good morning to all from Italy .
My next door neighbour has been helping me with my bees for a while now and has decided to start keeping bees himself. I would like to get him started by donating a few frames and a queen to him.
I have a couple of strong families but would like to know what would be the best way to go about creating a nuc.
I have a 6 frame poly nuc which I could use. Is it just a question of putting some bees and a couple of frames of open brood and stores?
Is it too late in the year now?
Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Nick Lang]

I'm no expert.....I'm only in my third year...I've made up two nucs for the first time this year.....I didn't have a spare queen so I used two/three frames of capped brood, two frames of food and bought in a mated queen.
If you have a spare queen....then I would guess you could make up a nuc using the frames and the queen.
When I was making up the nucs I was advised not to create a nuc and let the nuc itself make/raise the queen as they often are not the best queens....also there is the issue of time...you are looking at about a month after a nuc with no Queen is created before the queen is up and running....as you approach the end of a season this can be an issue.....I don't know when your season is in Italy.

 

[blackcloud]

Queen ,two or three full frames of bias and bees,empty comb,comb of stores and foundation if more frames needed.
Couple of shakes of nurse bees from a honey super.
Repeat the last bit if the colony depletes

 

[Ian123]

Simple solution ask him to buy a queen from a reputable breeder if you don’t have any spare and then provide the bees/frames

 

[Sutty]

If you expect swarm preparations soon then waiting for that and giving him a nuc with either a queen cell or the established queen would be simple

 

[italic63]

If you expect swarm preparations soon then waiting for that and giving him a nuc with either a queen cell or the established queen would be simple

Hopefully swarm season is behind us for this year.
I guess my real question is if it is too late to expect a new queen to emerge and mate in July or not...

 

[ericbeaumont]

too late to expect a new queen to emerge and mate in July

How far ahead is the Northern Italian season when compared to the UK?

 

[italic63]

How far ahead is the Northern Italian season when compared to the UK?

Please see attached graph. Minimum maximum and green bars are rainfall in millimeters.
Thanks

 

[ericbeaumont]

attached graph.

Looks similar to the UK. I had an idea you were a month ahead. If not, July would be OK for mating.

 

[Sutty]

I suspect the Italian season will go later than ours being so much further south

 

[italic63]

Looks similar to the UK. I had an idea you were a month ahead. If not, July would be OK for mating.

Yes I think the temps are probably higher and the warm season longer but profile about the same with July being the hottest but also extended into August.
Thanks