Easiest way to make new colonies?

[Geb]

I have a plan to increase my number of colonies early in the season. They are on double brood nationals. I plan to take one of the brood boxes to a new apiary site many miles away, leave a queen with stores in the original position, and add a new mated queen to the box in the new position. I will ensure that both boxes have brood and stores. This is probably a bit simplistic, and I've probably overlooked something crucial ????

 

[Pete D]

Hi Geb, loads of ways to do this.........but first
how many colonies have you got ?
how many do you want ?
how much spare equipment have you got ?
do you want a honey crop this year ?

 

[For want of a better word]

Where will you get a mated queen that early in the season without importing?

Best advice would be to look for a locally bred overwintered queen.


OR

Hold out for the season to get underway and look at Dave Cushman's site for the topic " making increase"

My very first attempts to increase the number of colonies I had was to split an existing colony down into 3 nucleus boxes, with stores and brood divvied up between each nuc.
Fed with 1:1 sugar syrup.
The queen was in one...had to be
The other two had eggs so could raise their own new queen.
Make sure there are plenty of MATURE drones around.

With some luck you will be up to 200 colonies before you know what has overcome you !!

Yeghes da

 

[Geb]

Currently I only have a couple of colonies and only want a couple more, but keen to have good tempered buckfast queens. I have enough spare kit for four dbl broods and a couple of spare poly nucs too

 

[itma]

Currently I only have a couple of colonies and only want a couple more, but keen to have good tempered buckfast queens. I have enough spare kit for four dbl broods and a couple of spare poly nucs too

Plus what for swarm control and reunification?

 

[For want of a better word]

but keen to have good tempered buckfast queens

Then in that case you have but one option ... you need to buy in from a respectable breeder of such hybrids... suggest Hivemaker as a first call !... he may even have some overwintered well mated queens, to kick off your honey cropping!

Yeghes da

 

[Pete D]

Are your current queens not good enough, will you be replacing them too ?

From 2 to 4 is straight forward enough, you could keep 1 for honey and split the other into 3.

Or coming out of winter you could simply split the broods back to single brood hives, giving 4, 2 with queens 2 without. Add queens to the 2 queenless and then as they all build up add another brood box to achieve your 4 x double brood hives.
Or you could utilise the 2 poly nucs and make yourself a couple of nucs with queens either bought in or queen cells from your existing hives when they swarm. Plenty of spare kit then for swarm control.

Loads of choices.

 

[Arfermo]

but keen to have good tempered buckfast queens

Then in that case you have but one option ... you need to buy in from a respectable breeder of such hybrids... suggest Hivemaker as a first call !... he may even have some overwintered well mated queens, to kick off your honey cropping!

Yeghes da

Getting a buckfast might - repeat might - be calm for year or two but when she is superseded watch out. Best to stick with local mongrels as that is what you will probably wind up with later on. Then the new Q+ colony reverts to nasty.

 

[enrico]

A couple of things. Why are you having an apiary many miles away! And don't rush into things, it is easy to double your numbers every year with normal swarm control 2-4-8-16. It is easy to get too many colonies very quickly. I suggest to let nature take its course and keep everything at a reasonable distance to work with! But best of luck with whatever you decide
E

 

[Russel]

Here's a booket by Wally Shaw fromthe Welsh BKA site, lots more stuff on there to download.

making-increase

 

[REDWOOD]

I had a colony of Buckfast/cecropia 2nd and 3rd generations all calm, their genes even passed on to a defensive colony that became calm