Transfer from Wood to Poly nuc

[sharpy]

After carefully reading a lot of advice on the forum I have decided to try and get my nuc through winter in a Poly. I have done a search of the forum and found advice on transferring in summer but its now much colder.
Any tips on achieving this with minimum disruption ?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Pick as nice a day as possible and transfer the frames from one box to the other, in the same order.

 

[sharpy]

May be a silly thought but would it be feasible to transfer all the frames at once to cause minimal disruption >

 

[Poly Hive]

And if you drop them???????????

PH

 

[fatshark]

This w/e would have been ideal as it was so warm. However, temps are up to mid teens this week so should be OK. I suggest moving the old nuc to one side, gently smoke them, place the new nuc on the old site (entrance same way etc.), transfer the frames gently and quickly, keeping them in the same orientation. Shake the remaining bees onto the tops of the frames and close up. Do all this at the warmest time of day with no threat of rain. There'll be a few lost, but it should be straightforward.

 

[sharpy]

PH. Yeah that did cross my mind ...

 

[sharpy]

Frustrating weekend. Lovely weather here and working 0700-1900 all week. You can guarantee that when i get a day off next Thursday it will be raining and cold

 

[Rob55]

Frustrating weekend. Lovely weather here and working 0700-1900 all week. You can guarantee that when i get a day off next Thursday it will be raining and cold

I did it myself last weekend, 14x12 national into a poly nuc, was about 12 deg and rain started half way through. Not good..! But got the job done and the bees are now flat out bringing in the remainder of the heather and seem happy in their new abode. Just pick a day and go for it.

 

[oliver90owner]

Just pick a day and go for it.

Quite right. Just try to pick the best time, but keep in mind that they can be transferred in a couple of minutes (frames) and it will be the flying bees that might seem to be most disturbed. All they need is time to get back inside without too many lost through chilling.

Consider the options - either do it and get it done or finish up with them in an less-appropriate hive for all of winter.

 

[Into the lions den]

Difficult one. The bees will essentially be formatted for winter now in their existing wooden hive............and the way they format themselves in a poly box is slightly different.

The standard advice is that whatever they are in in August should be what they remain in unitl they open up again in spring. A date as early as 15th July is actually given by some Scandinavian beeks of long experience as the last date for transfer to the different material so significant is this pollen/brood area/cluster position difference between the hive types, even if imperceptible to us.

I see you are down in the midlands so you have longer than we do to do this but I suspect a mid October transfer is way too late for optimum results.

Against that there is the fact of wooden nucs being very much a less than perfect unit for wintering bees ( yes, I know some get through fine especially in the south) and their chances are reduced in wood.

All in all a difficult decision. If the bees are still active and with brood and carrying a lot of pollen then go for it, and offer syrup, they should still be able to do a limited reformat. If not then I would leave them in the wood now.