taff..
Field Bee
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2008
- Messages
- 796
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- By that there Forest
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 4
as per the title really.
I hefted my nuc yesterday and fancied it felt a bit light, so this afternoon I took over some fondant, but when I opened them up there was very few bees. In a way I've been a bit surprised that they made it this far as they were quite weak going into winter.
so seeing that they are so weak, I wanted to see that they still had their queen, which they do.
a few questions
I'm thinking that this 'colony' is pretty much doomed as they are soo small, is there any way of boosting their numbers from one of the other colonies? I did think I could swap their position with the strongest colony to get a few more of the flying bees, but they are not flying much so the few bees that may go to the nuc may just be a waste from the full hive.
failing that (which I think is a non starter if I'm honest)
the queen in the nuc has a better temperament than the one in my strongest colony and i would like to requeen the hive with her, but... its far too cold to be pulling the hive apart looking for the queen at the moment and the nuc may not survive until it warms up.
any thoughts?
I hefted my nuc yesterday and fancied it felt a bit light, so this afternoon I took over some fondant, but when I opened them up there was very few bees. In a way I've been a bit surprised that they made it this far as they were quite weak going into winter.
so seeing that they are so weak, I wanted to see that they still had their queen, which they do.
a few questions
I'm thinking that this 'colony' is pretty much doomed as they are soo small, is there any way of boosting their numbers from one of the other colonies? I did think I could swap their position with the strongest colony to get a few more of the flying bees, but they are not flying much so the few bees that may go to the nuc may just be a waste from the full hive.
failing that (which I think is a non starter if I'm honest)
the queen in the nuc has a better temperament than the one in my strongest colony and i would like to requeen the hive with her, but... its far too cold to be pulling the hive apart looking for the queen at the moment and the nuc may not survive until it warms up.
any thoughts?