markb2603
House Bee
- Joined
- Apr 23, 2022
- Messages
- 118
- Reaction score
- 52
- Location
- Donegal, Ireland
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 4
I’m looking to combine a weakish nuc with a decent hive (brood box and half drawn super currently) and I’m hoping to keep the nuc queen, remove the hive queen and newspaper combine.
There are a couple of strings to this. Firstly, the hive, the queen in here is 2020, not marked and very shy. I haven’t actually seen her since I got her as part of an overwintered nuc in 2021. The reason I’m replacing her is the hive is very much on the fiesty side while the nuc, while weak is very calm.
So what I am proposing to do is:
1) remove the existing brood box 50m away and replace with an empty brood box for any returning fliers. This should help with aggression a little.
2) pass the now removed brood box through a Queen excluder and find the queen.
3) dispatch queen
4) take the now queenless brood box back to original location
5) Queen excluder and newspaper on top
6) brood box with the nuc and queen on top
7) close up and leave for 1 week.
Should I remove the brood box to another location or just suck it up and try work quickly?
Should I put the new brood box containing the nuc at the top or bottom of the full hive? Both are sitting next to each other facing different directions so either works.
What should I do with the half drawn super?
I’ve watched the BMH video on how to complete the pass through to find the queen but a vital component is missing and that is how to get a few frames of brood in the bottom box to draw the bees down. Does anyone have experience doing this?
Should I go in after 3 days to look for queen cells in the existing hive?
Saturday looks like the last good day for a week or so (25 degrees forecast here and dry then drops to sub 20 degrees and patchy rain for the week) so I’ll give it a go then I think
There are a couple of strings to this. Firstly, the hive, the queen in here is 2020, not marked and very shy. I haven’t actually seen her since I got her as part of an overwintered nuc in 2021. The reason I’m replacing her is the hive is very much on the fiesty side while the nuc, while weak is very calm.
So what I am proposing to do is:
1) remove the existing brood box 50m away and replace with an empty brood box for any returning fliers. This should help with aggression a little.
2) pass the now removed brood box through a Queen excluder and find the queen.
3) dispatch queen
4) take the now queenless brood box back to original location
5) Queen excluder and newspaper on top
6) brood box with the nuc and queen on top
7) close up and leave for 1 week.
Should I remove the brood box to another location or just suck it up and try work quickly?
Should I put the new brood box containing the nuc at the top or bottom of the full hive? Both are sitting next to each other facing different directions so either works.
What should I do with the half drawn super?
I’ve watched the BMH video on how to complete the pass through to find the queen but a vital component is missing and that is how to get a few frames of brood in the bottom box to draw the bees down. Does anyone have experience doing this?
Should I go in after 3 days to look for queen cells in the existing hive?
Saturday looks like the last good day for a week or so (25 degrees forecast here and dry then drops to sub 20 degrees and patchy rain for the week) so I’ll give it a go then I think