Emptying a mini nuc

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Lozza

New Bee
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Messages
12
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0
Location
East Grinstead, West Sussex
Hive Type
Other
Number of Hives
5
I've used a few mini nucs this year. They are in the same apairy as my other hives but more than 3 meters away. None now have queens.

Whats the best way to empty them?

I attempted to simply put the bees into another hive but loads of fighting took place and then they all clustered around where the mininuc used to be.
Any better methods?
 
This is what i did Lozza but it may be wrong.
I had 6, I moved them a couple of feet each day untill they were all on top of the hive that i wanted them in. On i nice day i tipped them all into a pile on the roof of said hive and let them get on with it.
 
I have a nice colony of bees which started live as the contents of 5 mini nucs plus the contents of a couple of supers thrown together in a standard nuc with a caged queen.
Throw 2 colonies together = mayhem
Throw 3 , better more together and they quickly settle down
I think it's the confusion does the trick :Make sure the resultant colony is removed a couple of miles from site of any of the mini nucs :)

John Wilkinson
 
I knock them all out together at the same time in the grass in front of my hives.

Peter
 
i never bother about moving them 3 feet at a time i just shut them in and unite them to my weakest nucs to give the a boost of that extra cup full of bees. the next day when they have chewed through the news paper you will see a few bees back at the origional spot , but by evening them have gone back to the main hive.
 
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