small mateing Hive's with OMF

[Onge]

HI all

I am toying with the idea of dividing up one of my old Dadent boxes with ply dividers, to make 5, 2 frame mini nucs.

Planning to extend the dividers down to the bottom of an OMF them securing them directly to the mesh.

Will this be enough devision between the nuc's as all the floors will be mesh.

As in will they be having an antenna fight through the bottom of the mesh ?

Thanks'

 

[Poly Hive]

You may well find that one queen is more attractive and you have rather less nucs than you hope for.

PH

 

[Onge]

Would you suggest a solid floor instead ?

 

[oliver90owner]

Not done it myself, but 4 sounds better in one box and arrange one entrance on each side?

Regards, RAB

 

[Onge]

Mainly concerned about weather an OMF would still work.

Or do they need to be more cut off from each other with a solid floor ?

Be it 2, 3, 4, or 5 mini nucs in the same box.

Thanks.

 

[oliver90owner]

Ten frames total doesn't leave much spare for four separators, especially if you expect a bee space either side of each separator! I'm not going to do the maths for that - leave it to you, but you have already lost seven to eight centimetres without your separators!

Question might be 'how much floor and ventilation does each need?' Battens screwed to the separators through the OMF would easily reduce the ventilation and increase the separation without any down-side.

That said, I reckon 4 in a standard brood is as many as you can fit in sensibly and each with it's own entry at right angles to the adjacent ones might be good enough.

Poly Hive seems to have the experience and knows that the 'drifting' is far too severe for all minis to remain viable. I wouldn't argue with that if the entrances were on the same side.....solid floors or not.

Regards, RAB

 

[Onge]

Yea I will have entrances at right angles to each other presuming 4 per box and i've seen that many work.

My main question is can it work with a full OMF, as in one sheet of mesh for the whole box secured at the dividers?

 

[oliver90owner]

Theoretical at the moment. Try it and let us know. I would not do it like that as there is no real need, so I won't be the test-bed. IMO better to be practical rather than dogmatic.

Regards, RAB

 

[Finman]

.
I have used 30 years the system 4 per box, and queen losses were big.
Virgins invite each other to fight with peeping and so they did. Often only one virgin was alive out of 4 queens.

No I have solitary mating nucs and they are handy to use and losses are gove.

Mesh floor is a bad idea in mating nucs.

 

[Onge]

Ok I think i'll shelve that idea for now and cut my old boxes into nucs.

Thanks all for your valued input

 

[jezd]

I would colour code each entrance too (not for, for the bees) as I have found drifting can be a major issue.

 

[Poly Hive]

I toyed with this some years ago and it was a failure. You know how it goes you read a clever story about how so very easy it all is and when you try it there are pitfalls discovered that the author glosses over.

So minus rosy specs I learnt to use mini nucs and nucs. Much more straightforward.

PH

 

[Finman]

I would colour code each entrance too (not for, for the bees) as I have found drifting can be a major issue.

Yes, it is if you have entrances too near.

I have 0% drifting when I have separate nucs far enough each other.

 

[Onge]

Yes, it is if you have entrances too near.

I have 0% drifting when I have separate nucs far enough each other.

So how far apart would you say to put each nuc?

 

[Finman]

So how far apart would you say to put each nuc?

I have space but about 2 metre. Often I put them fly to different direction.

I have to think distance too when I take one queen away and join two nucs. When they are different 3-frame nucs, I pile them and I get 6 frame nuc. Next step is normal box.

Nucs may be at different level. Some are on ground and some are on stand.

I cannot see idea to put them nicely very near or in line.

 

[Onge]

Ok thanks Finman.

 

[beebreeder]

I have split one brood box down the centre to make two nucs on full frames, entrances on opposite sides and small hinged doors, when full you have a colony just move to a full box in another apiary.
kev

 

[Onge]

I have seen separating a normal brood box in many books.

Can you assure me that this works.

Or will I be better off cutting the boxes in half and having separate 5 full frame nucs?

 

[RoofTops]

Buckfast use Dadant sized boxes divided into 4 with a cross shaped divider. They use smaller frames and have an entrance on each of the 4 sides. So the concept of dividing up a hive is proven but I think having the entrances pointing in different directions is important otherwise you risk losing queens - if they miss their entrance and go into another.

 

[Poly Hive]

I had utter failure with three way nucs in broods and gave it up as a bad job.

Rather than cut down full sized brood boxes why not look into making individual nuc boxes which are relatively bomb proof, as nucs go, though if I were to make them I would go for 6 frames to include a frame feeder.

PH