one stop mini nucs

[mbc]

Due to time constraints I tried something new with my first batch of nucs this season. I popped in the q cells at the same time as a cupful of bees with the entrance closed by a wad of fondant, drove to the mating apiary, put the nucs out and drove away to carry on with the day job.
To my great pleasure when I went round to check emergence on day 15 after the graft, all but 1 cell had successfully hatched and all the mini nucs had successfully established( even the one with no virgin had drawn some comb). All I need now is some good mating weather in the next fortnight and I should have a good batch of early queens for very little effort on my part.
Its alot less bother than pre-stocking the mini nucs, keeping them in a dark room for three days, putting in q cells or virgins, leaving for a further day or two before taking the nucs to the mating apiary and releasing in the evening as per the usual instructions !

 

[wightbees]

I have wondered about this,putting in dark room for a fewdays.
I can just picture the pro beek with loads of mini nucs in a very large barn lol.

 

[RoofTops]

Interesting experiment. Could weather have played a factor? i.e. was it wet and horrible when they would have eaten through the fondant and peeked out?

 

[gavin]

Good point RT - you are usually advised to spray the plastic screen (of Apideas) with water for the sake of the bees inside. In the case of a fondant plug the bees can't reach the outside of it and so there may be a risk that it forms a hard crust.

 

[mbc]

They had syrup rather than fondant in the feeders so no need of a water spray and yes, the weather was too damp for the fondant to form a crust. My major concerns were the plug becoming mushy and not containing the bees for long enough or robbing from either the drone hives in the mating apiary or ants, perhaps there would be more risk of this later on in the season.

 

[beebreeder]

I have done it before, but only in the evening and usually with a virgin runing around not a cell, then until this year they were filled from the bottom, so fondant in the feeder. When I keep them in for a day or two its in a cool corner or the shed and in batches of ten to fifteen at a time

They had syrup rather than fondant in the feeders so no need of a water spray and yes, the weather was too damp for the fondant to form a crust. My major concerns were the plug becoming mushy and not containing the bees for long enough or robbing from either the drone hives in the mating apiary or ants, perhaps there would be more risk of this later on in the season.