Walk-away split: reduce QC's?

[robmort]

In a so-called walk-away split to make an additional colony, the recommendation is often to leave the queenless part alone for 30 days until the queen is laying. But is it better to reduce the QCs produced to the best one or two after 8 or 9 days, as recommended here? As the bees were not initially in swarm mode there should be little chance of them wanting to swarm on multiple cells so leaving alone should not cause swarms and would allow them to choose the best queen.

 

[jarmo henttu]

In a so-called walk-away split to make an additional colony, the recommendation is often to leave the queenless part alone for 30 days until the queen is laying. But is it better to reduce the QCs produced to the best one or two after 8 or 9 days, as recommended here? As the bees were not initially in swarm mode there should be little chance of them wanting to swarm on multiple cells so leaving alone should not cause swarms and would allow them to choose the best queen.

When you make an emercency queen, it takes 10 days to emerge. Then it takes another 10 days to start laying.

But why to rear in the nuc an emergency queen? You may rear normal queens in a normal hive. Then you make nucs from that hives, which reared the queens. But you myst move the nucs to another apiary

 

[Sutty]

I would select an open QC (or 2) at 5 days so the queen had been fed royal jelly for her entire development.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

If the walkaway is taking a nuc from a full hive leaving the queen in the hive (leaving the nuc queenless) I would risk leaving them alone.

 

[jarmo henttu]

If the walkaway is taking a nuc from a full hive leaving the queen in the hive (leaving the nuc queenless) I would risk leaving them alone.

Nucs use to do quite small queens.
Childrends' games.

 

[ericbeaumont]

walk-away split to make an additional colony

How did you do it?

 

[robmort]

Took 2 frames of BIAS and 4 frames of stores into a nucleus placed next to the parent hive. These are 14x12 frames. Has all worked well, as usual, with about 8 emergency QCs after 8 days, plenty of flying and nurse bees and additional stores collected since the split. No robbing from 3 hives less than 2 m away, or attack by wasps. I've done it before several times with complete success and have reduced the QCs to one (or possibly 2), but looking at advice on such spilts, there is little mention of reducing the QCs.

 

[robmort]

Nucs use to do quite small queens.
Childrends' games.

Total rubbish.

 

[Anduril]

Took 2 frames of BIAS and 4 frames of stores into a nucleus placed next to the parent hive. These are 14x12 frames. Has all worked well, as usual, with about 8 emergency QCs after 8 days, plenty of flying and nurse bees and additional stores collected since the split. No robbing from 3 hives less than 2 m away, or attack by wasps. I've done it before several times with complete success and have reduced the QCs to one (or possibly 2), but looking at advice on such spilts, there is little mention of reducing the QCs.

What I've done in the past, is 2 to 3 frames of emerging brood the rest as stores, shaken more bees in. Then I have a cutout of eggs fashioned horizontally to the frames ( Hopkins Method of Queen Rearing). They have drawn out 6 queen cells close together. Then leave them alone.

 

[Curly green finger's]

Total rubbish.

I agree I’ve split of demarred colonies into 6 frame nucs to finish cells of and cells were as good/fed as any other way of queen rearing I’ve used, after some good advice from @mbc