Nuc to re-queen

[JohnyP]

Hi there,

I have a developing nuc with a freshly mated nice young queen. I also have a full size extremely aggressive hive. What's the best way to re-queen the main hive from the nuc? Obviously I have to find and kill the old queen, but what then? How do I get the new queen accepted safely and how do I arrange 16 frames into a new box?

 

[jimmybee]

I would leave the hive for a few hours and then put the new queen in a cage with a bit of candy blocking the end of the cage, sum times I use icing sugar if there really angry. Just dust the bees by the time there clean the queen is normaly out and about.

 

[busybee53]

I would put the nuc frames in a spare brood box and unite over newspaper.

After making sure the bad queen is removed I would place a queen excluder over some newspaper and making a few tiny holes to give the bees a start in chewing through the paper.
Once the newspaper has been chewed up (couple of days) would be when I would reorganise the frames.

 

[oliver90owner]

If the nuc has the same footprint as the hive, just unite with newspaper as per normal. Just need a piece of material to act as half a roof for a few days - and take precautions to avoid water ingress at the join if the weather threatens heavy rain.

You say you have 4 colonies, so cannot be difficult to accommodate the odd spare frame somewhere?

 

[JohnyP]

Yes Oliver That seems the best option, thanks. Bit of duct tape at the join. I actually used some duct tape to mend a duct the other day... what's the chances of that

 

[masterBK]

Like Busybee53 : When uniting to requeen a main stock with a nucleus I would use an excluder to hold the newspaper down as this has the added benefit of restricting the queen to her own box surrounded her own workers and preventing her wandering too early into the main colony where she might get done in. Also best to remove the aggressive queen a day before you unite to allow her pheromones to subside. This unfortunately makes them more aggressive during this short period of queenlessness but more importantly makes them more likely to accept the new queen.

 

[JohnyP]

thanks all

 

[Nuc]

When uniting with newspaper does the q- colony make emergency cells immediately or does the new q's scent get through the paper? I presume a check for q cells after 5 or 6 days is a good idea or do they tear them down by themselves when the newspaper has gone?

 

[oliver90owner]

A fool-proof method would be to de-queen and remove all emergency cells after a week or so, then unite?

 

[Hebeegeebee]

A fool-proof method would be to de-queen and remove all emergency cells after a week or so, then unite?

Not much fun if they're aggressive though!

 

[Hebeegeebee]

With a new queen, and her brood and brood box from the bad-tempered lot, why not run them as a double brood? If not, re-arrange after a week rather than just a couple of days.

 

[JohnyP]

I know some folks run double commercials (and this is a very strong colony) but I don't have enough spare kit.