Queenless mini - nuke

[SixFooter]

Quick question:
If you remove a mated Queen from a mini nuc, what do you do with what remains in the mini? Do you unite it with another colony?

 

[Poly Hive]

Quick answer.

No.

You give them a queen cell or a virgin and let them work for a living.

PH

 

[BKF Admin]

There is a video on the net that shows how to hang a queen in a cage and place mini nucs around it,all the bees end up clinging to the cage and make up a colony for wintering.

I think its from Ireland.

 

[Poly Hive]

Bernard Mobus had a super with a frame work in it to take all the mini frames left over from the season and would unite it to a weaker colony for a bee boost for winter.

PH

 

[Hivemaker.]

Bernard Mobus had a super with a frame work in it to take all the mini frames left over from the season and would unite it to a weaker colony for a bee boost for winter.

PH

Thats a good method to save a considerable amount of brood/useful young bee's.

 

[beebreeder]

would'nt work well with swie beins though and could land up very packed with food.
kev

 

[Hivemaker.]

Kev.
it would work okay with any mini nuc frame if the super is modified to take the frames,then placed on a colony above an excluder after the heather honey flow,so what would they fill it with? and even if the combs did get filled with honey would it really be so bad.

 

[BKF Admin]

They would fill them with Ivy around here,but still no big deal as its food for the bees.

 

[Poly Hive]

These (mini nucs) were stripped of brood and bees after the heather. AMM mates late.

PH

 

[beekeeping4you]

Quick question:
If you remove a mated Queen from a mini nuc, what do you do with what remains in the mini? Do you unite it with another colony?

Unite queenless mini nuc with other queenless mini nucs - 'how to' can be seen in my recently uploaded video 'Honeybee swarm attractor-board' - it's only two clicks away, admin is right, 'made in Ireland'
Regards
Reiner

 

[SixFooter]

Brilliant! Can't wait to give it a go. And more kit to make!

 

[Hebeegeebee]

6'-er. If your mini-nucs have a hole in the bottom of some sort (removeable bottom), you can unite the small colony with another stock using the newspapermethod (over the crown board hole) at the end of the season. Then the bees are not wasted.

If you leave it there you might just well get honey deposited in the comb so you've got instant food in there for next year. Make sure the honey is capped or it will ferment. (Some of mine was not capped as I took it away too early).

Adam

 

[beekeeping4you]

Hi Hebeegeebee,
Newspapermethod over crownboard hole usually takes ages - instead of leaving the frames I have seen them start emergency queen cells after they got access to the bees below!
Pull out sliding floor of mating box completely, spray in water/thyme-tincture mix, place on queen excluder on top of colony after spraying some "thyme-perfume"on the bees under the excluder, protect with empty box, take away roof from mating box to leave it open and cover everything with the hive roof.
Do not leave mating box in situ after the brood has hatched - it could become heavily propolised and do not wait for the bees to fill the mini-frames with honey - these little pieces of comb always ferment.
Install fresh starter strips in the frames and feed bees to get them drawn out - there will first be a virgin in the box when next season starts - no need or no reason to offer them drawn out comb for immediate laying because it will take some time for the queen to go on mating flights...
Regards
Reiner

 

[Mike a]

beekeeping4you

When you set up your mini mating nuc's for the first time can I ask what you recommend to feed them to encourage them to draw out the comb?

Plus

Once you have confirmed you have a mated laying queen do you just pop in another queen cell or use those bees and queen to start a larger nuc?

finally

If you keep the same bees in the mating nuc (which I guess you do) do you repeat feed them at any time before you add a new queen cell?

I really enjoyed your movie about merging mini nucs thank you for posting it.

 

[Poly Hive]

I use damp sugar for feeding.

PH

 

[marcros]

I use damp sugar for feeding.

PH

same here. put in dry white sugar and spray with water.

 

[Mike a]

I use damp sugar for feeding.

PH

Approximately how much sugar. ?

0.5 Lb ?

I have no problems using fondant or 1:1 sugar water but I hadn't considered using just damp sugar before.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I use fondant when i make up the mini nuc's to start with,nothing to fall when i tip them upside down to fill with bee's,when topping up the made up nuc's when needed i use sugar and spray with water.

 

[beekeeping4you]

Hi Mike,

The Apideas are set up with a ball of candy (the size of a ducks egg) already pressed down the bottom of the food chamber when the Api is turned over to fill in the bees through the bottom opening (sliding floor).

A virgin queen in a Nicot hair roller blocked with candy is already waiting between the frames at this stage. When all Apideas have their bees and are back on their feet we leave them alone for 48 hours in a very dark and cool place where they will release the virgin and start to take up the candy for some initial building on the starter strips.

Once they are out in the mating apiary and flying we fill the feeder with thick syrup 2/1 sugar/water, the only substance that really works and activates the wax producing glands. (try 1/1 syrup or a full feeder of candy and you will see the difference).

As to your next question: We want queens of the highest possible quality, that's why we leave them in the Apidea longer than usual enabling us to test her laying pattern on five frames after the feeder has been removed. We wait until her first batch of workers has hatched to 'rejuvenate' the colony. This ensures a successful uniting process as shown in the video five or six weeks after the initial set up of the Apidea.

By then the best part of the mating season is over here in the North-West of Ireland and it would be risky to start a second queen from a queen cell.

There's only one queen mated per box during the season. Supplementary feeding is not necessary in most cases, the mini colonies are more or less self sufficient.



Regards

Reiner

 

[Hivemaker.]

Reiner.
Have you tried fondant,bee's pull foundation absolutely fine with this,and fast as well.As you say candy is not much good,to hard i imagine and less water content. You really do have a short season by the sounds of it, with only one queen mated per nuc.