Moving from Apidea (mini nuc) to Main Hive

[fizzle]

Hi All,

How do you move bees from Apidea to main hive and when is the best time to do it?

So I split a hive into two main hives and also took another nice QC and placed in Apidea. Queen should have emerged in last 5 days and hopefully mate in coming days. When is best time to move them and what to look out for?

If all goes well and she is laying I was thinking to place brood box over with a few frames and open top of Apidea for them to migrate to main frames?

 

[jeff33]

They won't migrate especially if that box is empty.
You need to wait for your first brood to be capped to make sure your queen is mated properly before uniting.
I use home made mini nuc and can remove the bottom. I usually place it over a crownboard with a hole of the same size using newspaper to unite to a nuc . You can do the same with the apidea.

 

[madasafish]

Move when Q is laying worker brood (ie capped)

As Jeff33 says.

 

[fizzle]

You need to wait for your first brood to be capped to make sure your queen is mated properly before uniting.

I wasn't planning on uniting with another hive. The plan is to build them up into a standalone full hive.

 

[jeff33]

I wasn't planning on uniting with another hive. The plan is to build them up into a standalone full hive.

Then you will need to find a way to fit your apidea frames into full size frames and transfer into a 2 frames nuc as there would not be enough bees to populate anything bigger.

 

[jool]

The 3 frames in an apidea can be wired to a frame top bar and placed in a nuc. I give them drawn frames and usually bolster numbers with a slab of brood from a doner hive.

 

[Tarahill]

Hi All,

How do you move bees from Apidea to main hive and when is the best time to do it?

So I split a hive into two main hives and also took another nice QC and placed in Apidea. Queen should have emerged in last 5 days and hopefully mate in coming days. When is best time to move them and what to look out for?

If all goes well and she is laying I was thinking to place brood box over with a few frames and open top of Apidea for them to migrate to main frames?

This might be useful, though it could be made easily and you'll need replacement frames from your apidea....they also do packs of 5 apidea frames for 10 euro

https://www.donegalbees.ie/products/national-apidea-frame

 

[elainemary]

This is what I did: unite to a Nuc with Nuc extension over newspaper, this one was with a queen in the Apidea - see pics / slide the Apidea floor back or remove it completely. She was laying in the Nuc a few days later.

Better size for her than a full brood box to start with and if make Nuc up with 2 frames sealed / emerging brood with house bees attached, 2 extra good shakes nurse bees, 2 frames stores (pollen and nectar) and 2 empty frames for new queen to lay, it’s v new queen friendly. Or can make smaller with just 4 frames (one frame pollen/nectar, 1 empty drawn comb)

If don’t have equipment, I’ve also done it over brood box, using another brood box / super as eke and dummied down with frames centralised below the Apidea

 

[oliver90owner]

Expect growing tiny colonies to sensible size is not recommended. Just don’t do it - use better methods.

 

[fizzle]

Thanks all for comments and suggestions. Ok, I will give them a boost with frame of brood and nurse bees from mother hive. Will try the newspaper method to unite.

PS: I dont have a nuc. Was thinking to fill in half the brood box using cardboard or plywood. I'm hoping with enough feed they will be able to build themselves into a full hive before autumn?

 

[lindsay s]

Half a brood box is too big an area for 2 frames of bees to keep warm even with added frames either side. You could find that a lot of the bees on the donated brood frame will return home as soon as they get the chance, unless the hive is moved because they won’t all be nurse bees. Then you’ll be left with not enough bees to look after the brood that’s left. Just because you feed a very small colony doesn’t mean it will build up fast. The brood will only expand at the speed the bees can maintain it and they will also need to be bringing in plenty of pollen. I have heard of queens being overwintered in double Apideas but I can’t advise you on that. I would either beg or borrow a nuc or offer the queen to someone else.

 

[madasafish]

Cable tie your frames to brood frames.
Place in dummied down hive (insulation or wide dummies best). Feed all the time- fondant is best.
Wait 3 months.
As my experience this year
Then you might have a colony.

I did that with an overwintered Apidea .this year. Won't bother again.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Newspaper unite over a queenless nuc is the easiest method. Then piece of queen excluder between the two to keep the queen down. After 3 weeks all the brood has emerged and being used with the colony below the excluder; If you keep topping up the feeder during this time, you will probably have the mini-nuc frames full of sealed stores which you can use next year for 3 mini-nucs.

 

[fizzle]

*Update* So I took a frame of brood and nurse bees from mother hive and placed into the back of a brood box with an empty frame either side and filled out the rest of the BB with insulation board to create a Nuc.

Placed a crown board over the BB with hole directly above the frame of brood.

Placed an empty super on top and Apidea directly above hole in crown board with paper in between. I closed up the front entrance to the Apidea so their only exit was down through the crown board.

Inspection today (11 days later) and no sign of newly mated Queen but found what looks like an emergency QC in Apidea.

My initial thought is I tried to unite them too soon and should have left the brood frame queen less for a day before trying to unite. Really annoyed I lost a newly mated queen.

 

[madasafish]

The nurse bees will have killed the Q.

I did similar this year but sprayed all bees with air freshener .That confuses bees' sense of smell.
(LOTS of smoke will work as well)

 

[B+.]

Hi All,

How do you move bees from Apidea to main hive and when is the best time to do it?

So I split a hive into two main hives and also took another nice QC and placed in Apidea. Queen should have emerged in last 5 days and hopefully mate in coming days. When is best time to move them and what to look out for?

If all goes well and she is laying I was thinking to place brood box over with a few frames and open top of Apidea for them to migrate to main frames?

What makes you think she is mated already? Queens require 6 days to become sexually mature, then it will be a few days before she mates and starts laying eggs (which you can't be sure they're workers until they are sealed).
I think you're rushing this a little.

 

[fizzle]

What makes you think she is mated already?

She was already hatched and mated before I introduced the brood frame. Picture above shows her capped brood in Apidea frame. They made an emergency Queen cell from one of her eggs.

Question is, how long does it take for bees to realise they are queen less?

 

[B+.]

She was already hatched and mated before I introduced the brood frame. Picture above shows her capped brood in Apidea frame. They made an emergency Queen cell from one of her eggs.

Question is, how long does it take for bees to realise they are queen less?

Almost immediately. You'll hear the pitch change.

 

[fizzle]

Almost immediately. You'll hear the pitch change.

Then the next question is why did they kill the new Queen.

(They were introduced within 30 mins of being removed from mother hive)

 

[Erichalfbee]

Question is, how long does it take for bees to realise they are queen less?

Listen to your stack of supers if you are looking in the brood