overwinter nucs - making a split soon ?

[citrus]

so I had 3 spring splits ... but was thinking about raising another 2 nuc's as the bait hives didnt catch this year (badly sighted, no lemon grass, etc etc)

could I try and raise another nuc now with eggs and nurse bees from a main hive ?

or wait til the bramble is over ?

(we generally have good ivy here so there should be forage thru til nov)

 

[enrico]

As long as you have drones available at the mating time then I don't see a problem with doing it now. Depends totally on local weather.!!!
E

 

[beeno]

I do have a problem with particularly a newly established nuc raising queen cells from eggs. If you had a 14 day old swarm cell to put in there fair enough.

 

[pargyle]

I do have a problem with particularly a newly established nuc raising queen cells from eggs.

Why ? That's how bees raise queens ... give them fresh eggs and no queen and guess what - they raise a queen. Drones are still plentiful down here in the South until well into September - plenty of time. It's not August yet !

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I do have a problem

Luckily the bees don't.
there's a month or more to go before any concerns about drone availability.
I have quite a few colonies starting supersedure preparations at the moment.
They seem to know what they're doing.
The only caveat with nucs is they have less time to build up brood and stores, feeding them more is fine but it's a fine line then with the stores taking brooding space over.

 

[beeno]

I am not taking about timing, but the fact that you may end up with a scrub queen as there will be insufficient nurse bees and "it's all in the jelly" as Michael Palmer would say.

 

[Erichalfbee]

To my mind a scrub queen is one made on emergency cells by workers too old to give her adequate nutrition. That's why a test frame often yields them if you decide to go that way rather than introducing a mated queen.
Citrus is intending to use brood and nurse bees from a strong colony. Why would that produce a scrub queen?

 

[Michael Palmer]

I can't disagree with replies, because I don't have your climate. My season ends considerably before yours. I was impressed with your flow at the end of October, when I was there in 2013. But still...I think now it's getting late. Anything goes wrong and you have a failure that can't be corrected. Why not buy queens from a reputable UK breeder?

 

[drex]

Mike, Since listening to your many talks on the sustainable apiary and queen rearing, I raise all my own queens from grafts. They are open mated. I breed from the proven good and any duds get squashed. It has added to my beekeeping knowledge and enjoyment, and as the years go by, my bees have improved.
At a push I might buy from a UK breeder, but not from abroad.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I can't disagree with replies, because I don't have your climate. My season ends considerably before yours. I was impressed with your flow at the end of October, when I was there in 2013. But still...I think now it's getting late. Anything goes wrong and you have a failure that can't be corrected. Why not buy queens from a reputable UK breeder?

That’s what I would do now

 

[beeno]

Dani, Poor nutrition on its own in the form of not enough jelly due to lack of nurse bees or good quality jelly due to lack of mixed forage may also lead to scrub queens not only dependent on age of larvae.

 

[Anduril]

Dani, Poor nutrition on its own in the form of not enough jelly due to lack of nurse bees or good quality jelly due to lack of mixed forage may also lead to scrub queens not only dependent on age of larvae.

Why would there be a lack of nurse bees? When making up a nuc, you fill it with extra nurse bees, that is, extra to the bees on the frames you transfer to the nucs. In your area that is certainly achievable. Where do you find these extra nurse bees? In the supers or under your clearer boards if you are extracting.

 

[tom8400]

is there a good guide on creating over wintered nucs somewhere?

 

[Erichalfbee]

is there a good guide on creating over wintered nucs somewhere?

Have a look at Norfolk Honey on YouTube. Probably something there.