Hi all
I'v got a grumpy colony which needs requeening.
And I've got a nice nuc at a different apiary
And I need to start apiguard treatment.
I think the sequence of events should be:
Move nuc
Put nuc in full size hive
make grumpy colony queenless
unite with nice colony over paper.
Treat with apiguard
feed up for winter
How long should I leave between manipulations and does it matter which colony goes on top ?
Many thanks
It doesn't matter one jot whether the queenless colony goes on top or the bottom.
The usual thing is to put the colony which has to be moved on top.
If the nuc is in the same apiary put it in a full size box at the same location as it is now, at the end of the day when the bees have stopped flying close it up and carefully move it as close as possible to the colony with which you are going to unite (this can be done the same day)
As they're at a different apiary - hive them there, close them up the same evening then move to as near as possible to the recipient colony. Getting them into a full size hive just avoids uneccessary faffing at the other end when you do the unite (I'm sure Shirley would agree)
now I like to do the next bit very early in the day before the bees start flying - but you can do it last thing in the evening, if in the evening you can prepare the receiving colony earlier by putting a couple of sheets of newspaper on top held down by a queen excluder (the excluder is essential in my view to stop the queen wandering into the Q- side to early and being mobbed) and puttin the roof back on until you are ready to do the move, but you run the risk of them (especially if they are a bit bonkers) chewing through the paper before the unite. Then, when the colony destined for the top is well settled, quickly whip them off their floor and put down on top of the newspaper - the action and confusion of the unite should force the moved bees to reorientate so they shouldn't fly back to the original location.
As I said, I prefer to do it at the crack of sparrows so I just get up, whip the crown board off the receiving colony, put down newspaper (two or three sheets of the torygraph is best) then QX then swiftly transfer the donor colony (which I closed off and moved into position the evening before)
Done this a few times and always Q+ on top as they were in the donor nuc needing to move, the last time with a pretty agressive colony and, apart from the queen going off lay for a wee while, all was fine.
It's only August so plenty of time for Apiguard - I would let the unite get well settled first (so best get it done ASAP)then Apiguard in September
