Mating nucs?

[Hawklord]

There are some currently on flea bay that look good and the price even better, has anybodyelse used them and are they ok?

 

[Poly Hive]

A link would be handy as it's a big site.

PH

 

[Hawklord]

A link would be handy as it's a big site.

PH

It probably would, but I aint a clue how to put the link in. They're £69.99 for 6.

 

[oliver90owner]

Copying the URL would be good
An item number would be good.

 

[fatshark]

If you mean the wooden top bar hives then the price is similar to an Apidea and about twice what a Kieler costs. Both these have the advantage of being poly. They are most like the Kieler but have three/five bars depending whether the feeder is in place (as opposed to the Kieler 4/6). However the external dimensions look large so I wonder how many bees you need to stock them?

If not the wooden ones then ignore all the comments above

 

[BeeJayBee]

Do you mean these?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-x-Beeke..._Pet_Supplies_Bee_Keeping&hash=item3a794f11d9

 

[Hawklord]

Do you mean these?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-x-Beeke..._Pet_Supplies_Bee_Keeping&hash=item3a794f11d9

That's good, wish I could do that. Those are the omes I was looking at.

 

[Poly Hive]

It's called copy and paste... highlight it and press the CTRL key, hoold it and then press the "C" key, to paste it do the same but instead of "c" use "v"

I would not buy them no, too small. Small is good to a point and below that point it makes a trickish situation very tricky so not for I sir.

PH

 

[Hivemaker.]

They are Swi-bines,much the same size as the Apidea, they work well,but i do find them to be too small really.

 

[Hawklord]

Thanks for the replies. What do you guys use?

 

[beebreeder]

Kielers and my own manufactured boxes, a few apidea but you really need small hands

 

[Poly Hive]

Always used the Kielers and they are just that bit bigger though being unable to find a queen in a half sized shoe box is embarrassing at times...LOL

PH

 

[BeeJayBee]

Do you mean these?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/6-x-Beeke..._Pet_Supplies_Bee_Keeping&hash=item3a794f11d9

That's good, wish I could do that. Those are the omes I was looking at.

Thanks.

Search ebay beekeeping for something that costs £69.99.

Single click url to highlight, right click mouse and select 'copy'.
Right click mouse when cursor is in the correct place in reply box and 'paste' url into post.

 

[the naked beekeeper]

Is it just me who gets bees drawing comb in the feed compartment, despite filling it up?

 

[fatshark]

No ... it's nothing personal, they do that for me as well. I don't have QE glued between mine and the main compartment - perhaps that might discourage them?

 

[MJBee]

No ... it's nothing personal, they do that for me as well. I don't have QE glued between mine and the main compartment - perhaps that might discourage them?

'Fraid not - I'm about to harvest a lovely bit of cut comb and the Qx is in place

 

[drstitson]

i have keilers, apideas and swi-bines. all fine but keilers are that bit bigger.

problem i've had this year is wax moth getting into a couple of forgotten failed mating nucs - look like they've been shot with a shotgun.

 

[itma]

There seems to be a preference emerging for the Kiellers ...

I had the impression that their plastic was softer than the Apidea, and wondered whether anyone had any problems with damage - either from confined bees or externally from wasps or slugs. The home-made ones (from expanded polystyrene packing cartons) I tried this summer simply weren't resilient enough, in either direction! And consequently, I was looking to buy some 'proper ones' for next year ...

Dr S - was the 'shotgun damage' to the comb or the plastic structure? I know Greater Wax Moth damages frames and wooden hives, but hadn't heard of them tunnelling into poly.

 

[fatshark]

There's sometimes a bit of chewing around the entrance, but nothing structural or that could not be patched with a little ingenuity. I've not used Apideas for comparison. The problem many have is the bees connecting the comb to the side walls. It has happened a bit to me, but nothing too significant. I prime mine with 300ml of bees and reuse them during the season, finally overwintering them as double deckers. It should be possible to get three queens mated per Kieler over the course of a normal (ha!) summer.

 

[mbc]

Whatever type of mini nuc used they all suffered terribly from the attritional weather this "summer" and hardly any gave more than a couple of queens for me and many failed completely.
Truly a season to shake the faith !