Polish Poly Nuc - lots of mini pictures

[Mike a]

piccy link doesnt seem to work for me

I was playing with the settings of picasaweb a few weeks ago, must of switched that album to private by mistake.

 

[drstitson]

double poly nuc

thanks for all the pics and details of minor problems.

however since most of us will at some point (especially in last 10 days) use the Wragby based enterprise then it'll be cheaper/quicker/easier to source from UK (especially as >£100 P&P free) but even for 2 nucs only:

wragby: 2x £32.50 + £9.50 P&P = £74.50
poland: 1x £31.62 + £31.41 P&P + £10 bank transfer fee = £73.

 

[Nic Rhodes]

Mike

How have you got on with these?

 

[Mike a]

Mike

How have you got on with these?

Hi Nic,

I used it this year for a small swarm I was given from a friend which was ideal size for this mini hive. I doubled up two mini brood chambers and fed them just over 2 pints and let them get on with it for a few weeks in the hope they would draw out all the frames. Currently only the frames in the top half have been drawn out.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnqcRcrjpS8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnqcRcrjpS8[/ame]

After I took this video they then decided to supersede their queen and I'm pleased to say the new queen mated and started to lay. However the colony is still rather small as there there was a break brood rearing so they are unlikely to survive through Winter without further help or I will combine them with another colony. It is pretty tatty to look at but it does the job perfectly well and its far more solid then it looks. I wouldn't buy another one, I'll stick to using kielers and national nucs.

 

[drstitson]

given the size of that swarm (grapefruit sized? - enough to FILL a mini-nuc) - why did you use two brood boxes to start? the poor buggers have been held back somewhat by the amount of space.

If it were me i'd've put them in the one box, fed and then added the second (or transferred to proper nuc) once they'd got going and drawn the frames they had.

 

[Mike a]

given the size of that swarm (grapefruit sized? - enough to FILL a mini-nuc) - why did you use two brood boxes to start? the poor buggers have been held back somewhat by the amount of space.

If it were me i'd've put them in the one box, fed and then added the second (or transferred to proper nuc) once they'd got going and drawn the frames they had.

No. I don't think they have been held back at all. They moved into the top chamber and drew out those frames quickly before they superseded the queen. If they hadn't of superseded her the colony would of out grown the two chambers very quickly as the frames are about half the size of a national brood frame and as I went into hospital on the 13th June I wanted to ensure they have enough space whilst I was out of action for a while.

I could of put them in a national nuc, but as it was only a small swarm a 4/5 frame national nuc would of been too big and difficult to keep warm.

 

[drstitson]

ok - you had your reasons but in a ideal world weekly inspections would have allowed regular assessment of progress and it would have been noted that the colony had stalled and didn't need extra space yet.

presumably the swarm was a cast and the poor virgin didn't get mated properly due to the poor weather in june.

my suggestion of national nuc was for once they'd got going properly NOT initially - the polish nuc was an ideal nursery for this cast (DOI: i have a couple of the nucs after seeing your original posting - yet to try them but thing they are fine for this sort of situation.

 

[Nic Rhodes]

Many thanks, think I will try a couple of these next year. Facinated by the small hives

 

[Mike a]

Dr,

The video shows they were a small colony and the queen was laying in the top chmaber, but I'm happy to reply to your post.

ok - you had your reasons but in a ideal world weekly inspections would have allowed regular assessment of progress and it would have been noted that the colony had stalled and didn't need extra space yet.

If they were already in the lower chamber or a single chamber and I added a second chamber over them then I agree it would of been poor management whilst superseding.

presumably the swarm was a cast and the poor virgin didn't get mated properly due to the poor weather in june

.

The queen was in a colony for some time before she swarmed when she belonged to Paul, I put them in there 27th May and by 2nd June she had began laying the combs they had made in between. see video 5min 45 secs so she was definitely not a virgin at the time she swarmed. I later confirmed as worker brood which is when I found the supersedure cells after I posted this video, she could of been poorly mated but I have no idea when Paul got her but I suspect she was a 2010 queen.

my suggestion of national nuc was for once they'd got going properly NOT initially - the polish nuc was an ideal nursery for this cast (DOI: i have a couple of the nucs after seeing your original posting - yet to try them but thing they are fine for this sort of situation.

IMHO the size of the colony was too small to go directly into a national nuc and because I didn't have at the time spare drawn combs. I felt the mini hive would be small enough for their size and a second chamber would reduce their chances of swarming whilst I was having my op and recovering. As it is the second chamber below them shouldn't impact on them at all. Warre hive users and to some limited extent Rose hive users do this all the time with no negative impact on their colonies.

Nadiring method.