speedy increase

[ladaok]

Imagine a good strong hive with 8 frames of brood / eggs, am I better off to split this into 4 X nucs with 3 X new vir Q's, ......or, split it into 2 X 4 frame hives, one with a new VQ, wait for a period of time and then split these two again

when I say better off, .... which scenario, would you think, gives the best increase in bee #'s / time

 

[Hivemaker.]

Either, but for much quicker and reliable progress use mated queens.

 

[Finman]

Imagine a good strong hive with 8 frames of brood / eggs, am I better off to split this into 4 X nucs with 3 X new vir Q's, ......or, split it

8 brood frame hive is not strong. If you split it, the rest will have very slow build up.

Build up speed depends on colony size, how much brood bees can keep warm and how much larvae they can feed.


I think that 4 langstroth box hive is strong enought to split and it has 15 brood frames. But that splitting will destroy the honey yield.

That size hive I would split to 10 mating nucs and then the nucs starts their build up. First that hive would rear the virgins, and there will be no difficulties to introduce them to their own bees.
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[ladaok]

Either, but for much quicker and reliable progress use mated queens.

not at $ 45 a pop I ain't, ...... ignore he type of Q and size of the original hive to be split .... FINMAN touches on it, ...... i'm thinking that a nuc of twice the size, will expand much more quickly, and can then be split again than 4 X nucs

 

[Hivemaker.]

not at $ 45 a pop I ain't

You don't buy them, you rear your own, mating them in mini nucs using just a cupful of bees, very low resources needed regards bees for a lot of queens, and during the time your waiting for them to mate your full size colonies are getting bigger and stronger, get them on to double broods to do even more splits, and when the mated queens are removed from the mini nucs they can be given another virgin to mate, and then another...and so on.

....or

speedy increase

INCREASING FROM 100 TO 1,000 HIVES IN THREE MONTHS http://apimondiafoundation.org/foundation/files/137.pdf

 

[Finman]

...... i'm thinking that a nuc of twice the size, will expand much more quickly, and can then be split again than 4 X nucs

What you need in nuc formation is emerging bee frames. To get one box emerging bees takes 4 weeks. In nuc frames they are not full of brood.

Who knows, what you finally do with those nucs?

 

[Finman]

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What is speedy?

I rear own queens

It takes 10 days that emerged queen starts to lay.

A virgin needs only one frame bees in 3 frame nuc.

When laying starts, give a frame of emerging bees. The 3 frames are full and queen can lay into 3 frames. But there are honey and pollen too in frames. It is good if frames are half full brood.

After 30 days the nuc is full of youg bees and it is time to give more space. Add second nuc box under the brood.

40 days gas gone. You have about 2 full frames of brood.


If you started with one box "nuc", you had then one box full of brood, perhaps 8 frames. When they emerge, you will have 3 box hive full of bees. It takes from start about 40 days with laying queen.

However, after 40 days you have 15 frames of brood and and and a productive colony

If you splitted one box of bees to 3 nucs with virgins, you have 3 x 2 frames = 6 frames of brood.

This is an example about alternatives and about speedy.


Quickest way to enlarge a small colony or nuc is to take a good frame of emerging bees. That will not harm much a big colony. It can however harvest the nectar avaiable from field.
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[Finman]

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Summary: In the example

Normal hive produces 3 times more brood frames in 45 days than 3 frame small nucs.

That tells what splitting makes to the build up
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[mbc]

Either, but for much quicker and reliable progress use mated queens.

A robust response for our conditions but keep in mind the op is in the BOP NZ where virgin queens tend to be mated and laying a nice pattern a fortnight after emerging.

 

[ladaok]

A robust response for our conditions but keep in mind the op is in the BOP NZ where virgin queens tend to be mated and laying a nice pattern a fortnight after emerging.

Ah yes ! ... good point. .....although it's been a very awkward spring & early summer. ( cool if not cold early morning and temps fall quickly come evening to around 12 * c , Sunny days 21 > 25 *c we have gusty winds. Many of my spring splits have superseded twice

Yes, as FINMAN alludes to hijacking brood from one hive to another, is a good way, if you have the stock on hand , which I don't here at home, all I have here are just rats and mice from a spring split, all the good stuff is 200 miles away on a manuka / kanuka crop

 

[domino]

I agree with Hivemaker, I learned to raise bees a while ago, if you focus on raising good queens you'll be able to increase very fast. Queen rearing is the most useful skill you can gain in beekeeping IMHO.

 

[Finman]

I agree with Hivemaker, I learned to raise bees a while ago, if you focus on raising good queens you'll be able to increase very fast. Queen rearing is the most useful skill you can gain in beekeeping IMHO.

Quality of queen does not rule the speed of nuc build up. Every queen can fill few frames with brood.

If you have 2 box hive, then the laying ability has meaning in build up speed.

Small colonies never grow fast. That is my attitude.
.when one box is full of bees, then the colony goes with its own.
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