New beekeeper.

[enrico]

I have sent you a private message, loads of us in knighton!
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Well done E

 

[masimcox]

Ok, so from the majority of your posts it is clear that the 2 brood box nuc is ok to bring on the colony but once big enough it needs to be in a full size hive.

This has now been ordered and should be here Tuesday.

So next question, do we do our usual weekly inspection as normal (Sunday) or should we wait until Tuesday?, then transfer the frames? what time of day?,

Thanks for all your help, it is really appreciated.

Mark

 

[Cussword]

Ok, so from the majority of your posts it is clear that the 2 brood box nuc is ok to bring on the colony but once big enough it needs to be in a full size hive.

This has now been ordered and should be here Tuesday.

So next question, do we do our usual weekly inspection as normal (Sunday) or should we wait until Tuesday?, then transfer the frames? what time of day?,

Thanks for all your help, it is really appreciated.

Mark

You should do your regular inspection on Sunday. On Tuesday When you receive your hive, transfer the frames. Early evening would be the time I would do it.


Just because I like that time of day..

.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It's impossible to transfer bees and not lose a few in the air. For that reason I like to transfer the bees when they are flying. As long as their new entrance is where their old one was there is no problem with flyers finding their new home.

 

[masimcox]

sounds like a good plan. Do I follow the advice earlier in this thread when transferring? i.e. Bottom brood box in the centre and the upper frames either side of those?

Mark

 

[Cussword]

??????

Ah, you posted the same as before, but edited it out. Follow Erica's advice in #3.


.

 

[enrico]

Don't forget to check the nuc box's after you have moved the frames. The queen could be on the sides of the box.
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

Don't forget to check the nuc box's after you have moved the frames. The queen could be on the sides of the box.
E

I'm quite paranoid about that. I always find the queen on her frame and transfer that first

 

[pargyle]

Yes ... some good advice above from Erica. I wouldn't bother with an inspection - I would wait until your new box is there and do the whole thing at the same time - pointless disturbing the colony twice in a couple of days .. In addition I would do it when the sun is out in the early afternoon when there are going to be a lot more bees flying so less in the air around you - much less daunting for a beginner.

Move the Nucs to one side - put the new hive where the Nucs were with the entrance facing the same way. Transfer any frames that just have stores on them - they will have fewer bees on them and it's unlikely the queen will be on them. Put these frames at the back of the new box away from the entrance - I tend to run full size hives with the frames 'warm way' - your Paynes Nucs will have them 'Cold way'.

You can then start on the brood frames .. if you can spot the queen on a frame as you are going through then that will give you some confidence that you have her in the new box. You should aim to get the frames with eggs, larvae and brood on them in the middle of the box.

If you end up with bees in the nuc sitting on the walls when you have all the frames out then take a few frames of stores out of your new hive temporarily ... make some space in the middle of the hive and then up end the nuc over the space - give it a hefty slap and the bees will drop into your new hive - you may need to do it a couple of times. Check the nuc again to make sure that any bees that are left in there do not include the queen.

Put the nuc boxes with the roofs off about 5 or 6 feet away from the new hive and the few bees left in there will almost certainly fly to the new hive. If they don't, later in the day, shake them out again onto the landing board of your new hive and take the empty nucs away from the apiary. Any flying bees will return and find the new hive and assume it is where they came from.

You really need to make a dummy board to go in the back of the hive - the dummy board is just a false back to the hive and it allows you to take it out first when you are doing your inspections and it makes space to move the brood frames along a bit before lifting them out - saves 'rolling' bees between the frames.

As has been said earlier - diving in at the deepend is possible but it's a whole lot easier if you have a grasp of some of the basics before you start ...

Good luck ...

 

[masimcox]

Just thinking out loud, with the new hive, a paynes poly national, would it be prudent to also get a second brood box? The hive comes with a brood box and 2 supers. What about a feeder?

 

[enrico]

Two hives is always better than one. Next year you will need four etc. You can never have too much equipment.....honestly! Always have a spare something at hand. If you are using all your brood box's buy a spare, if you are using all your supers then buy a spare or ten!
E

 

[masimcox]

And the spare 4 bed roomed house to keep this stuff???

 

[enrico]

I have two sheds full!

 

[masimcox]

So new hive has arrived, a paynes poly national. So it has space for 11 frames, I have 12 in my 2 nuc brood boxes, what do I do with the other one, which one do I ditch.

If I interpret the advice given on this thread correctly, I put the oldest brood frames near the centre and the others either side.

Any further advice before I start the move?

 

[Swarm]

Use 11 frames and a dummy board, it helps prevent rolling bees.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Keep the brood frames in the order they are.
Put them in the middle ( I won't complicate things but you might find that the bees will keep the brood at the front in a poly hive when they settle down)
Put the empty frames each side; two at the front and three at the back is what I would do.
Add your spare frame to the others you will need next year

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Put the empty frames each side; two at the front and three at the back is what I would do.

Depends whether warm or cold way?

 

[Erichalfbee]

True

 

[masimcox]

Ok everyone, full size hive now installed.

All bottom brood box seemed to be full of brood, I put them in order, 2 frames from the front, I then put 2 frames from the upper brood box at the front and a further 3 frames at the back, quite a bit of capped brood evident on the front two but a lesser amount on the back 3. The one I left out had drawn comb with only a small section on one side of capped brood. I did not identify the queen.



There were a few bees hanging around on the nuc boxes so I just left them open near the new hive to give them chance to renter the main hive.

Lots of bees at the entrance when we closed it up, but after an hour it had reduced to to around 40-50 with still a couple of small clusters of 5-8 bees on the old nuc.

Does that seem about right, there were a lot of upset bees when we moved the frames!