Hiving a nuc, before or after the move?

[Robbo8916]

Hello me again,

For those of you who saw my other thread RE moving a hive in winter, its ok because I think I dodged a bullet and decided against taking the bees. Apparently the lady has since sold them on for £480!!!!

Anyway, so back to my bees. I have one colony in a national and also a nuc I created in mid July. The full size hive colony have been an absolute nightmare all year and have gone through FOUR queens this season. Every time she started laying they replaced her.

This colony is going to need some work in the Spring but the nuc built up beautifully and are jam packed ready for spring expansion.

I plan to move the nuc colony down to the new orchard apiary in probably March time depending on the weather of course. They will be going in to a full size hive.

Is it better to set up the full hive in the orchard and then move the nuc down, transferring them a couple of days later? Or hive them at home and then move the full sized box?

Apologies if this is a daft question.

 

[BrianO]

No such thing as a daft question .. OK maybe the odd time there is but this ain't one.

Bring them down in the nuc to their new intended permanent position, leave for a few days to let them settle and orientate themselves then transfer over to your full sized hive..

The Jobs Oxo !!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hello me again,

For those of you who saw my other thread RE moving a hive in winter, its ok because I think I dodged a bullet and decided against taking the bees. Apparently the lady has since sold them on for £480!!!!

Anyway, so back to my bees. I have one colony in a national and also a nuc I created in mid July. The full size hive colony have been an absolute nightmare all year and have gone through FOUR queens this season. Every time she started laying they replaced her.

This colony is going to need some work in the Spring but the nuc built up beautifully and are jam packed ready for spring expansion.

I plan to move the nuc colony down to the new orchard apiary in probably March time depending on the weather of course. They will be going in to a full size hive.

Is it better to set up the full hive in the orchard and then move the nuc down, transferring them a couple of days later? Or hive them at home and then move the full sized box?

Apologies if this is a daft question.

No brainer really - always easier to move a nuc than a full hive.

 

[Robbo8916]

No such thing as a daft question .. OK maybe the odd time there is but this ain't one.

Bring them down in the nuc to their new intended permanent position, leave for a few days to let them settle and orientate themselves then transfer over to your full sized hive..

The Jobs Oxo !!

Thanks. I did think that would be the way suggested but I have made enough cock ups this year so I don't want to do the same again next year lol.

So the plan is to set stand and hive closed up of course. Then I can pop the nuc on the roof of the full hive, meaning that when transferred they will just have to figure out their entrance is lower down.

Thanks for your help

 

[BrianO]

Noooo

Why complicate.

Place Nuc on hive stand in position required. leave for a few days, return in suitable weather conditions with new empty full sized hive , move nuc to side , place new hive in old Nuc position, transfer all frames carefully and efficiently ( in same order as removed from Nuc ) into new hive, close up , put on the kettle and have a Cuppa !

Thatr way no wasting time figuring for bees , straight away returning bees will be entering new hive as soon as you place in old Nuc position.

 

[Robbo8916]

Noooo

Why complicate.

Place Nuc on hive stand in position required. leave for a few days, return in suitable weather conditions with new empty full sized hive , move nuc to side , place new hive in old Nuc position, transfer all frames carefully and efficiently ( in same order as removed from Nuc ) into new hive, close up , put on the kettle and have a Cuppa !

Thatr way no wasting time figuring for bees , straight away returning bees will be entering new hive as soon as you place in old Nuc position.

Ok. I was concerned that the nuc would be a bit wobbly on the stand as it is a sloping stand made for a full sized national?

Maybe I am just overthinking everything.

 

[BrianO]

Yes, you are, fix your stand / adapt it so as Nuc is not " Wobbly " .

All the Best

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Noooo

Why complicate.

Place Nuc on hive stand in position required. leave for a few days, return in suitable weather conditions with new empty full sized hive , move nuc to side , place new hive in old Nuc position, transfer all frames carefully and efficiently ( in same order as removed from Nuc ) into new hive, close up , put on the kettle and have a Cuppa !

Thatr way no wasting time figuring for bees , straight away returning bees will be entering new hive as soon as you place in old Nuc position.

a day is usually morre than enough - in fact, when pressed for time I've just moved the nuc and transferred them straight into their new quarters.

 

[beeno]

Could I please ask you if the nuc you created had a queen from the full sized hive or totally different genetics?

 

[Robbo8916]

Could I please ask you if the nuc you created had a queen from the full sized hive or totally different genetics?

They raised their own queen. They have been doing brilliantly ever since. There are a lot of local beeks so I have no idea what drones she mated with though.

 

[Robbo8916]

I do plan on requeening both colonies in spring if thats what you were getting at =)

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Why?

 

[Robbo8916]

Why?

Because of their propensity to swarm. They have been a nightmare all year, Greg was just as baffled as me about why they were so intent on swarming.

Requeening the very swarmy colony was always the plan. The nuc colony will have their chance with their queen to start with.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Just read your first post again - so the original colony just superseded constantly rather than refused to take an introduced queen?
Whatever, you're not going to get a decent home bred queen for a while into the new season - I'd monitor both and see what happens.

 

[Robbo8916]

Just read your first post again - so the original colony just superseded constantly rather than refused to take an introduced queen?
Whatever, you're not going to get a decent home bred queen for a while into the new season - I'd monitor both and see what happens.

Yes. I lost a swarm while I was away and found lots of capped queen cells. I wasn't sure if they had a virgin already so I took a small number of bees into a 5 frame box to give myself a better chance of getting a mated queen. I ended up with two so decided to keep both colonies.

The nuc colony have still got that original queen and she was laying beautifully all summer. They are the ones I am moving as the other will probably need more attention and are round the corner from my house.

The original colony swarmed again so I must have missed a cell during an inspection. They were in one of the apple trees but Greg and I had clipped the queen so they ended up going back to their hive. They raised another queen, waited til she started laying then superseded her.

Needless to say they have the final queen still. She actually took flight when we were looking for her but luckily Greg used his ninja skills and managed to grab her in mid air.

They have just been a nightmare or Asbo bees as someone called them lol

 

[beeno]

They raised their own queen. They have been doing brilliantly ever since. There are a lot of local beeks so I have no idea what drones she mated with though.

No, my interest was two queens with the same 'queen genetics' one doing well the other keeps being superseded. Conclusion anyone?
Thanks for responding Robbo.