ive made a cock up and need some advice

[stephenpug]

I have got a hive that is bursting at the seams with bees but no queen cells so i had a brainwave of taking 3 frames out with eggs and hatching brood and food and putting them in a poly nuc I also put a feeder on top
the idea is they will make an emergency queen and live happily ever after
will it work or have i made a cock up in which case when all the brood hatch would i be able to unite them with a weaker hive
but on the plus side the queen in the first hive has got 3 new frames to carry on laying on

 

[MuswellMetro]

I have got a hive that is bursting at the seams with bees but no queen cells so i had a brainwave of taking 3 frames out with eggs and hatching brood and food and putting them in a poly nuc I also put a feeder on top
the idea is they will make an emergency queen and live happily ever after
will it work or have i made a cock up in which case when all the brood hatch would i be able to unite them with a weaker hive
but on the plus side the queen in the first hive has got 3 new frames to carry on laying on

Depends on how many bees you added in addition to the bees on the frames and the new location of the poly

But you have a lot of problems because if too close ( 3 miles) then all the forage bees return to the main hive as indented to that site and you will have to few bees to collect pollen, collect nectar, make a QC and fee the larva

it can work if moving the old queen to a new site and the poly on the original site, but i think your way will end with a scrub queen and a very small almost unsubstanable colony ( and that's if you are lucky)

 

[Tom Bick]

People will say three frames of bees will not produce a good queen cell but I have a good queen from a similar situation and consider myself lucky and perhaps you should think in terms of its an experiment.
Yes you can always reunite later and you have more to learn from your experiment.

 

[AndyJThompson]

Would it not have been better to wait until you needed to do a AS then they have created a QC for a split seem as the colony was getting near to bursting.

 

[TOBY-3652]

I did just the same as you on the 12th of april but i placed a mated queen in the nuc 1 day later.. Today i have to put them in a hive, as the nuc was bursting with the bees that hatched and there is 2 frames of eggs and brood that she has laid, this nuc i moved over 3 miles so all the bees stayed with it, this is what i would of done

 

[stephenpug]

Depends on how many bees you added in addition to the bees on the frames and the new location of the poly

But you have a lot of problems because if too close ( 3 miles) then all the forage bees return to the main hive as indented to that site and you will have to few bees to collect pollen, collect nectar, make a QC and fee the larva

it can work if moving the old queen to a new site and the poly on the original site, but i think your way will end with a scrub queen and a very small almost unsubstanable colony ( and that's if you are lucky)

I did add quite a few young bees when i had a quick look this afternoon they were flying and bringing in honey also there was a lot of bees over 4 frames in the nuc so there is plenty of young bees in there

 

[stephenpug]

Would it not have been better to wait until you needed to do a AS then they have created a QC for a split seem as the colony was getting near to bursting.

inexperience and panic

 

[stephenpug]

People will say three frames of bees will not produce a good queen cell but I have a good queen from a similar situation and consider myself lucky and perhaps you should think in terms of its an experiment.
Yes you can always reunite later and you have more to learn from your experiment.

Thanks

 

[sputnam]

So long as there were enough bees in your nuc, they are likely to be fine.
Keep an eye on the bee numbers and food until a good QC is capped, the leave them alone until she's likely to be mated.

 

[richardbees]

Stephen,
you're ok in principal but it all depends on if you gave sufficient nurse bees to the nuc....i.e. you should lightly shake a few brood frames over the original/parent BB then vigorously shake all remaining bees into your nuc.

Good luck,
Richard

Muswell M. the 3ft/3 mile rule is immaterial..

 

[AndyJThompson]

inexperience and panic

I know exactly what you mean last year I put a frame from a good colony into a queenless one for them to raise a QC. When I went on my next inspection the good colony had no eggs check in the queenless one yep you guessed plenty of eggs. In my haste I had moved the queen across. What I learnt was to close up and have a read or speak to my mentor about the best way forward. Then do the recommended manipulation.

Really has saved me many a time.

 

[REDWOOD]

And do you have drones in your hives

 

[stephenpug]

Stephen,
you're ok in principal but it all depends on if you gave sufficient nurse bees to the nuc....i.e. you should lightly shake a few brood frames over the original/parent BB then vigorously shake all remaining bees into your nuc.

Good luck,
Richard

Muswell M. the 3ft/3 mile rule is immaterial..

i did shake a few frames on the nuc out of the main hive so the nuc is quite full even after the older bees returned to their main hive

 

[stephenpug]

And do you have drones in your hives

a few around the edge of a couple of frames

 

[Tom Bick]

And do you have drones in your hives

To me its drones in other hives that are the important bit and I bet by the time when needed there will be a good few loitering with intent.

 

[richardbees]

a few around the edge of a couple of frames

what's more important is how mvany in your local area available for mating.

Stephen, you've done ok.. and the weather's on your side!

Let us know when you see it has worked!

richard

 

[stephenpug]

a few around the edge of a couple of frames

what's more important is how mvany in your local area available for mating.

Stephen, you've done ok.. and the weather's on your side!

Let us know when you see it has worked!

richard

will do Richard fingers crossed

 

[adrian wilford]

are there any drones yet or even drone comb in the hives? as you'll need some to get the queens mated.

 

[stephenpug]

are there any drones yet or even drone comb in the hives? as you'll need some to get the queens mated.

i have seen drones visiting but there is a few beekeepers around where i live

 

[richardbees]

adrian,

from other posts on this forum it.s clear that there are now plenty of drones on the wing in S.E. and Central UK.......my hives have flying drones