Split and new queen

[JonnyPicklechin]

Hi there

If I was to split off some frames (brood, stores etc) and some shaken bees to make a NUC and then introduce a bought queen, how long should I wait with the queenless bees in the NUC before I introduce HM?

I was going to make the change at dusk and block the entrance to keep the foragers in for a day or so.

For a number of reasons I dont want to have her caged with candy and prefer the direct intro route....

Thanks

 

[madasafish]

Hi there

If I was to split off some frames (brood, stores etc) and some shaken bees to make a NUC and then introduce a bought queen, how long should I wait with the queenless bees in the NUC before I introduce HM?

I was going to make the change at dusk and block the entrance to keep the foragers in for a day or so.

For a number of reasons I dont want to have her caged with candy and prefer the direct intro route....

Thanks

I would wait at least 2 days so they are hopelessly Q- and know it.. I would also check for QCs before I introduced a Q.

No cage is inherently very risky and from my experience likely to end in the death of the queen. I would not recommend it.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I would make the nuc up with capped brood only
No point in closing them up to keep foragers in as it is these bees that are aggressive
You want a nuc full of placid nurse bees so you need to shake these in from open brood or supers
I make mine up the day before.

 

[Bakerbee]

As a newbee can i ask in this type of situation fromthe OP if you left them a couple of days then when introducing the queen used a puff of air freshner eould that help?

 

[Swarm]

Pop her in some of your own honey and then put her on a top bar.