Uniting

[Stiffy]

I have a small nuc that I want unite which is about 14' from the hive its to be united with. I know I could move it a couple of feet a day but was thinking of moving it to an out apiary and then moving back to finish the process off. My question is how long should I leave it away before moving back?
Cheers

 

[Somerford]

you need to wait about a week or so if the bees aren't flying much....in that case, move it 3 feet each day and it'll be next to the hive within 4 days ready to unite on the 5th. Much quicker.

If the nuc is new, ie not many older bees, you could risk uniting them by dusting each hive population thoroughly in icing sugar. By the time they clean themselves off they will have forgotton where they were.

S

 

[JCBrum]

Stiffy, I've been told at least a week ....... but I've never tested that.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

Yes the 3ft rule is a rule, but there are always exceptions to the rule!

Take your distance of 14' and 3' per day (24hrs) = only 4.67 days to move. So moving away will take you longer.

Of course the 3ft rule can be extended to more if there are no other hives you are passing.

I have moved hives in the past 6ft per 24hrs, they sort the selves out!

Also moving the hive twice per 24hrs will speed the process up.

Is the nuc to be moved queenless? If so moving on a night and placing above the new location / queen right colony with a good few sheets of news paper under will make the move in one go.

 

[oliver90owner]

Can you move both hives? 2 days at 1m/d?

Regards, RAB

 

[jimbeekeeper]

Can you move both hives? 2 days at 1m/d?

Regards, RAB

Good thinking Bat Man!

 

[Somerford]

Can you move both hives? 2 days at 1m/d?

Regards, RAB

I presumed he wanted to bring the nuc to the hive and keep the hive in it's current location. in that case 2 days to get them close enough !

 

[BKF Admin]

I have read that you should leave a couple of days between each 3ft move and put something new ontop or around the hive so the bees realise something has changed.

Moving away and then back-the Yanks say 10days to be on the safe side.

 

[sputnam]

Could just put the nuc into a full sized brood box, wait till flying stopped & place over full colony with newspaper seperating. This is the way I do it.

 

[Finman]

.
If you have a sunny day, you may move hive 10 feets at once.
Bees need time to find their hive again. They need 3-4 sunny hours to get used to new place.

 

[Stiffy]

Could just put the nuc into a full sized brood box, wait till flying stopped & place over full colony with newspaper seperating. This is the way I do it.

I think this is the way I am going to try, a lot less 'faff' and at this time of year I want to get them together soon as I can.
The Nuc is from a late August split which has a laying queen but is quite small; I want to unite with a large colony which has remained queen-less despite my best efforts. The larger colony has had test frames on 2 occasions and each time they have drawn queen cells but when I introduce a new queen they have rejected her hopefully the two together may see the winter out....

PS Sputnam, the Nuc's I had from you are doing well, gentle, nice quiet bees and a pleasure to work with, I would recommend them to anyone

 

[m100]

.
They need 3-4 sunny hours to get used to new place.

So about two average British summers then....

 

[sputnam]

Hi Stiffy.

Glad the nucs are doing well.