new to beekeeping an am wondering about forced increase(fake queen generation)

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robin

New Bee
Joined
Jun 22, 2010
Messages
19
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0
Location
nr Wells - Somerset
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
1
Hi I got my first hive this year and the queen seems to be fantastic, laying in every cell in the lay area (obviously some cells used for honey etc), only skipping the ones with wire in, my question is this

can I just 'take' a frame of brood with and brush some nurse bees in with it, and then a week/few days later add a frame with 'young' eggs in for the bees to 'emergency' grow a queen or two from.

I have read about managing swarms etc, forcing swarms, but am curious about generating a second hive, to get two to go through the winter with, I would prob feed the second hive to help build them up

any info greatly apprieciated - this is curiosity you understand, I don't want to deplete my hive and impact on honey gathering just yet due to wanting to bribe all my neibours

cheers

Robin
 
Not quite as simple as that. You may be lucky and get a good queen from it and you may not. You may lose some of your brood on the frame you choose for the increase.

Much better to raise supercedure cells within the main colony and transfer one, or more, to a nucleus hive, or more, or to a brood body suitably restricted in size.

There is more to it than you are apparently thinking. You always impact on honey gathering capacity when increasing. There is no way round it unless done at a time of no flows.

Not having any clue as to the size of your colony and noting your obvious enthusiasm for your queen, so I would just add IF she is laying in EVERY available cell in the brood, she needs more space.

There must be swathes of items in many beekeeping books, on increasing colony numbers and should be explained on most beekeeping courses. I would suggest you only attempt to increase by one colony unless your colony is very strong.

RAB
 
i'd buy a cheep Nuc now,...£250 this spring, much lower now, our BKA members are selling nucs to members for £70, by the time you get a queen laying it will be nearly august

use their swarming instinct in spring

remember it difficult to get a small colony thru winter
 
your responses

cheers for the input

when I say laying in every available cell, I mean she is not leaving gaps in her laying and is very thorough

cheers guys

Robin
 

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