Poly nuc, holiday & yes, change in weather - what to do

warts · Mar 31, 2012

Weather is 9.5C here. I am off on holiday tomorrow for a week, and am worried about my poly nuc. I am near OSR, so was expecting to put them into a full hive (10 frames) this weekend as a temporary measure until I found them a new home (what does everyone do with all the extra bees they get?). But with the weather change, am not sure how to proceed based on what I will find. How many frames of brood should determine a move up to a full brood box in this situation? Or have I fluffed this and should have upgraded earlier? Or is there something else I should have / be doing? This is my first year of taking poly nucs through winter, and a steep learning curve, so all help gratefully received

Sorry for long post

Sally

Beeline · Mar 31, 2012

Sally
How many full frames of winter stores do they currently have?

Poly Hive · Mar 31, 2012

And how many brood frames?

PH

warts · Mar 31, 2012

Last time I looked they had approx 2 frames of stores, counting some around some of the frames, at least that I could see, and I added a dollop of fondant down the side feeder (just in case the weather changed...though it just got warmer!). I didn't go through all frames thoroughly as didn't want to overly disturb them, just wanted to check everything OK. Until I drive over this afternoon I will not know whether this has increased or decreased over the week

warts · Mar 31, 2012

To be honest PH, and this is my error for erring on the side of caution as didn't want to disrupt them too much, I do not know how they stand till I go this afternoon. There was at least three frames with quite a lot of brood that a saw.