More apidea basics please

[Bob Bee]

I'm at last having some success with queen rearing in Apidea. I have 3 that will do nicely for re-queening in August and two that have yet to start laying. I have one that is now bursting with bees, on 8 mini frames with brood in 6.
Can I move the bursting one into a polynuke, I've tried the miniframes in both deep and shallow frames and they wont quite fit three to a frame, so hows it done? ( I suspect its may swarm if allowed to build anymore, so what are the conditions for overwintering an apidea)

Does anyone have a favorite method for uniting apidea bees Q- back to a colony Q+ in a brood box?

I'm finding this quite an adventure.....

 

[mbc]

Three apidea frames can be squeesed into a super frame if you bend the bottom bars a bit but standard practice is to shake the bees out in front of the recipient hive once you're done with the apidea.

 

[itma]

...
Can I move the bursting one into a polynuke, I've tried the miniframes in both deep and shallow frames and they wont quite fit three to a frame, so hows it done? ( I suspect its may swarm if allowed to build anymore, so what are the conditions for overwintering an apidea)

Does anyone have a favorite method for uniting apidea bees Q- back to a colony Q+ in a brood box?
...

Shallow hacksaw cut slots on the inside of the sidebars should help you fit "3 to a frame".

You could put two to a shallow frame and secure with cable ties.

Normal is to 'bleed off' foragers (think Pagden AS) by moving the Apidea.

Overwintering an Apidea is probably not worth it. I've been told by someone that he did it using 3 supers on the Apidea, and sheltering the thing inside an empty hive.
I've heard claims of doing it with one super and a feeder, and putting two inside a standard hive.

I wouldn't bother.
Better to go for a polynuc (with extra top insulation ) or else a divided brood box holding two nuc colonies for overwintering. T's sell a "twinstock brood box at a very fancy price - but its not hard to modify a cheap poly box... (don't forget to make yourself some half-size crownboards so you can open them one at a time!)


Normal thing would be to bleed off flying bees (by moving the Apidea), remove HMQ to a new nuc, and give the Apidea a new QC to get excited about.
After the last QC, as mbc says, most people just shake them out ...

 

[Bob Bee]

Great, 3 frames fitted ok with sawcuts and cableties.

 

[For want of a better word]

You could make up a box to fit the bottom and lid, and simply lift all the frames up so the bees "grow" them down..... as a certain WCBKA member and well respected bee farmer and breeder has done.

I prefer to get the mated queen into a prepared nuc with a couple of frames of brood + stores and young donor bees asap as keeping the mated queens in the mating nuc for too long seems to result in failures.

Tiny colonies just do not seem to overwinter so well... but am going to try making up some 2 frame brood ( BHS Polly brood box with 4 way split with entrance ekes) to fit on top of winter hives with a crown board between, and roof on top... to over winter queens in.

When I get time!

 

[blackcavebees]

You could make up a box to fit the bottom and lid, and simply lift all the frames up so the bees "grow" them down..... as a certain WCBKA member and well respected bee farmer and breeder has done.

I prefer to get the mated queen into a prepared nuc with a couple of frames of brood + stores and young donor bees asap as keeping the mated queens in the mating nuc for too long seems to result in failures.

Tiny colonies just do not seem to overwinter so well... but am going to try making up some 2 frame brood ( BHS Polly brood box with 4 way split with entrance ekes) to fit on top of winter hives with a crown board between, and roof on top... to over winter queens in.

When I get time!

Hivemaker had some pictures of this concept in a thread on mini nucs, but they seem to be gone now after the server upgrade. His had 5 mini frames x 4 colonies over a national hive

 

[Bob Bee]

I hadn't realised that it would work without putting more frames in the additional box, will definitely try this, ie, adding the extra extension below with no frames, rather than above with 3 more frames and the feedeer as I have been doing. If Pete has those pictures......

 

[Bob Bee]

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[Bob Bee]

Reusing apidea

Those of you who use Apidea, do you simply cut back the drawn comb from a previously used Apidea to re use it or do always start with a fresh starter strip?

 

[Black Comb]

I use one drawn comb to get them started and 2 with foundation to give them some work. One benefit of this ismthat if you place the drawn comb at the feeder end, when you drop bees in via the floor there is some space for them to drop into, meaning you can close the floor without squashing bees. If you simply use 3 drawn combs then the bees do not easily fall down into the spaces and you end up,squashing bees when closing up.

 

[blackcavebees]

I watched Jon (he doesn't post alot on this forum) take a drawn apidea frame, break half the comb off, melt the edge and stick it onto a new frame. Took less than a minute and gives room for bees to be added plus work for them to draw out rest.

 

[MJBee]

Apidea winter storage

If you plan to keep frames with comb in you Apideas over the winter take full precautions against wax moth.

Wax moth larvae can wreck an apidea by tunnelling I have the "T" shirt.

 

[Bob Bee]

thanks