Uniting a nuc. with a full brood box

[fatshark]

I have a nuc. with a newly mated laying queen which I'd like to unite with a queenless colony in a standard hive. The nuc. is small and the colony is weakened having been queenless for at least 3 weeks (the hive had a virgin queen on the 16th but I think she didn't manage to return from her mating flight).

Once I'm certain the colony is queenless how should I unite them to avoid fighting and give the new queen the best chance to get established? Hooper recommends misting (water) the two frames from the nuc. with the queen in between them and inserting them into the middle of the queenless colony, again after misting.

The nuc. is a "Hedgerow Peter Special" with a fixed base, so I can't unite through a sheet of newspaper.

With thanks.

--
fatshark

 

[Frisbee]

If you don't want to use water then a liberal (very) dousing in icing sugar will have the same effect. It creates confusion and gives the bees something to do (groom themselves).

Frisbee

 

[Tom Bick]

Have you got a spare BB to transfer the nuc into then the news paper trick

 

[Haughton Honey]

Add a few drops of either vanilla essence or lemon grass oil to your tepid water if you're going to unite the two. Couple of light squirts to each side of each brood frame.

It works well and is a method I use frequently.

 

[Poly Hive]

Make a board to fit the top of the nuc and strong enough to support the brood box above as this is a pretty common situation.

Then use newspaper.

PH