New nuc

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Joined
Jul 3, 2010
Messages
301
Reaction score
76
Location
Co Antrim
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
3
Yesterday I made a nucleus from a very large hive. I have a queen cell in it and lots of brood and bees and food. I kept it shut up last night and have sprayed water in. It is still with my other hives. I was reading that I should add bee pollen but looked at the price and thought it was quite expensive. Would it be OK to open it up say tomorrow and let them get their own pollen or will they just fly back to their original hives?
 
Yesterday I made a nucleus from a very large hive. I have a queen cell in it and lots of brood and bees and food. I kept it shut up last night and have sprayed water in. It is still with my other hives. I was reading that I should add bee pollen but looked at the price and thought it was quite expensive. Would it be OK to open it up say tomorrow and let them get their own pollen or will they just fly back to their original hives?

Keeping them confined will place them under a lot of stress...best open them up. Older foragers will return to the original hive but the younger house bees (which is what you want) will stay behind.
The idea of keeping them confined for 3 days refers to mini mating nucs (e.g. Apidea) where there is barely a cupful of bees inside and you can't afford to lose any.
 
Thank you for the quick reply. I will open up the nuc. I am lucky enough to have three hives at the moment and this nuc was made as I needed to do an artificial swarm.
 
Yesterday I made a nucleus from a very large hive. I have a queen cell in it and lots of brood and bees and food. I kept it shut up last night and have sprayed water in. It is still with my other hives. I was reading that I should add bee pollen but looked at the price and thought it was quite expensive. Would it be OK to open it up say tomorrow and let them get their own pollen or will they just fly back to their original hives?

Is it not possible to move them out, to another yard?
As to lockdowns?
Provided the entrance is screened and upper ventilation is installed
they'll be fine for at least a few days depending on stores on board.
That said, bees orientate each morning as the azimith changes so an
overnight closure will limit the drift to the parent provided the nuc is
more than 20metres away.
What you really should provide for is robbing of the nuc, given the season.
An entrance reduced to just maybe two drones passing is ideal. Use mesh
as you must maintain ventilation.
Help?

Bill
 
As long as you've given them the right frames they should be just fine.

Brood will keep the nurse bees there, should be plenty of pollen stored around the outside of the brood. New bees hatching from sealed brood will allow the nurses to replace the fliers that return to the original hives.

Why would you spray them with water & risk cooling any brood you're moving, surely (on the side of the UK's largest expanse of fresh water) you have enough moisture over there already?
I would perhaps give them some sugar water.
 
.
You take a pollen frame from the big hive. That means pollen. And you give a honey frame and no feeding.

Give syrup and the main hive learns to rob the nuc
 
What idea is in a little bit syrup?

If you don’t have a frame of honey to give them
If they have no foragers left
No flow
Bad weather
You want them to draw comb

Some that I can think of.
 
If you don’t have a frame of honey to give them
If they have no foragers left
No flow
Bad weather
You want them to draw comb

Some that I can think of.

When you make a nuc into the same apiary, old bees return to home. Then there are no foragers during next two weeks,, even if it is good flow and good weather.

The main hive dies if it does not have honey frames.

As I said, feeding invite robbers.
 
When you make a nuc into the same apiary,
feeding invite robbers.

Spot on Finny ... I've been caught like that .. you have to be very careful feeding a small colony from a split if it's anywhere near the larger original colony. Lousy advice to give them syrup ... better some brood frames with stores in them - doesn't seem to promote robbing.
 
I have killed some nucs when I have fed them. That is why I know.

I Start normally a nuc in another apiary. Then the nuc keeps its foragers . And foraging inspire nucs life and brood rearing.
 
I have killed some nucs when I have fed them. That is why I know.

I Start normally a nuc in another apiary. Then the nuc keeps its foragers . And foraging inspire nucs life and brood rearing.

Can’t argue your experience Finny. I’m here to learn, so understand this represent a risk, even though for me this has worked fine so far.

I’m not a big fan of feeding, doing so only when absolutely necessary.
 
Thank you once again for all of your advise. The nuc is now opened, it has stores and pollen and I hope plenty of bees. It is still with the other hives but I have placed the entrance towards a hedge and hope it will survive.
 
I’m not a big fan of feeding, doing so only when absolutely necessary.

More usual is that mating nuc fills the combs with honey and the queen cannot lay.
I have Langstroth size frames and I can take extra honey frame off as well extra brood frame.. .. or I give pollen or food frames. That is good in late summer.
 
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Will be looking at this as much bigger risk going forward, after hearing you guys.
 
..

My intended advice about feeding was aimed at what i presume is the lady only has one other hive..
Therefor she has no frames of stores to start throwing around the apiary to feed this and that..

.;)

Well. She was going to throw frames around the apiary. Walk away nucs, plenty?

She must be a furious aunt then.
 
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