weight of bees for mini nucs

[piggy]

it would seem that most people that use mini nucs,apidea keeler type , stock them with 1-11/2 cup of bees. Does anybody know what a cup of bees weighs.

 

[nantmoel]

They recommend a 100g of bees per hive, I got a measure I use a plastic one. I take the nurse bees out of the supers. I shake the bees into a 2lt plastic bucket and give them a squirt of warm sugar solution (weak one), the put a cupful in each hive, if I got a virgin to go in I pop her in the same time, if it is the following day or even two days later I number mark her, drop her into a warm honey/water mix and then pop her through the top hole, works for me.

http://www.apidea.ch/media/archive1/Betriebsanleitung englisch_2013.pdf

 

[Finman]

Apidea is not a law of God. It is just a small box.

I use 3 frames mating nucs. Fist I give one frame of bees, and when the queen starts to laying, I give more bees so that the quen can lay all 3 frames.

You can count bees of weigh then, but I havent.

16 000 bees occupy 10 langstroth frames. So I give to mating nuc about 1500 bees. It is 200 g.

 

[piggy]

thanks for that . knowing the weight of bees I will need for a number of mini nucs will make it easier when shaking bees into collection box. I would guess +10% for fliers etc.

 

[For want of a better word]

V q in roller cage, take off lid and drop into Keiler then immediately 125g non fliers / nurse bees preferably mixed from 5 or so strong colonies. Big mug full!
Keiler prepped up with fondant and wood nuts. Bees in bottom with new q, flip over, take off lid and fill 1:1 through plastic cover feed hole. Leave locked in 72 hours in cool
Take to mating Apiary that has been well stocked with flying mature drones... let fly and check feed 3 day intervals ( if they use up syrup they take the fondant)

So easy to do I cannot see why folks import bees from far far away!

Yeghes da

 

[B+.]

So easy to do I cannot see why folks import bees from far far away!

Perhaps I can answer that. The only choice available to most people is a mongrel queen that has no real heritable qualities. Unless, and until, we have a proper breeding programme in this country that guarantees the genetic background and qualities that may be expected from the progeny, I think people will always look to Europe where they have proper breeding programmes.

 

[For want of a better word]

Perhaps I can answer that. The only choice available to most people is a mongrel queen that has no real heritable qualities. Unless, and until, we have a proper breeding programme in this country that guarantees the genetic background and qualities that may be expected from the progeny, I think people will always look to Europe where they have proper breeding programmes.

Will BREXIT mean we will have to look to our own breeding... perhaps that is the silver lining!

Yeghes da

 

[B+.]

Will BREXIT mean we will have to look to our own breeding... perhaps that is the silver lining!

Yeghes da

I doubt it Icanhopit. We're still a part of Europe and we always will be. Just look at any map.
I prefer to co-operate with our European neighbors than to try to pretend we're better than they are. The truth is quite the opposite. I think we can learn a great deal from each other.

 

[Finman]

I doubt it Icanhopit. We're still a part of Europe and we always will be. Just look at any map.
I prefer to co-operate with our European neighbors than to try to pretend we're better than they are. The truth is quite the opposite. I think we can learn a great deal from each other.

British Isles have lived centuries with global trading. So simple truth.
If some one does not see it, vain to explain further.
.
And the British have exported their unique native bees everywhere, to every continent, but no one want them.

.

 

[Finman]

.
You could start the breeding so, that British people can keep only one dog race on the isle, and one cow race. Those native ones. Only the queen can keep her own dog race.

 

[B+.]

Will BREXIT mean we will have to look to our own breeding

Unless, and until, we have a proper breeding programme in this country that guarantees the genetic background and qualities that may be expected from the progeny, I think people will always look to Europe where they have proper breeding programmes.

Politics isn't the answer. If we had a credible breeding programme that produced a certified product in enough numbers to satisfy the demand, I believe people would probably buy it.
The problem is, the only population that I am aware of that truly fits the "native" label is off the coast of Scotland. Muddying the water with all this talk about "near native" is just another way of saying they're not quite good enough. Without a means of measuring performance (e.g. breeding values) people have no way of knowing whether the stock is any better than what they already have. Is it really that hard to understand?

 

[Eyeman]

Take to mating Apiary that has been well stocked with flying mature drones... let fly and check feed 3 day intervals

Stick a small tub of fondant in the mating nuc (cut comb plastic containers fit well) and come back in 3 weeks to see if she is mated.
Why do you want to disturb them every 3 days?

 

[Finman]

.
The queen mates after age of 7 days. If weathers are good, over 20C and sunny, the queen starts laying after 10'th days. Checking 3 days intérwalls is really disturbin.

The queen rearing is a long process. Is it day here or there, it has no meaning.

And weigh of bees in apidea..... After 3 weeks half of bees have died...


.

 

[drex]

Perhaps I can answer that. The only choice available to most people is a mongrel queen that has no real heritable qualities. Unless, and until, we have a proper breeding programme in this country that guarantees the genetic background and qualities that may be expected from the progeny, I think people will always look to Europe where they have proper breeding programmes.

I am intending to have a go at grafting this year, having used cup kit and demaree type methods until now. I think Hooper suggests you " breed from the best you have, and this is briefly reiterated by Jo Widdicombe in " principles of bee improvement" . Am I therefore wasting my time? doing it as much to extend my skills as anything else. My main aim is to try to improve the docility of my bees. They are perfectly manageable now, on the whole, but it would be good if they were a bit quieter. I have kept good notes on their traits for the last few years. I am a simple hobbyist and have no delusions about producing a " superbee"

 

[B+.]

I think Hooper suggests you " breed from the best you have, and this is briefly reiterated by Jo Widdicombe in " principles of bee improvement" . Am I therefore wasting my time?
doing it as much to extend my skills as anything else. My main aim is to try to improve the docility of my bees. They are perfectly manageable now, on the whole, but it would be good if they were a bit quieter. I have kept good notes on their traits for the last few years. I am a simple hobbyist and have no delusions about producing a " superbee"

No, I don't think you are. If your objective is to acquire/practice a skill, it can never be a waste of time, no matter what you use or what you do with the result.
Of course you should rear queens from the best you have, but, I am reminded of the saying "if you keep on doing what you always did, then you'll always get what you always got". In other words, you can't expect a step-change in performance if you only ever use your current stock. Remember though, that heritability plays a part in the phenotype of the next generation. Some traits aren't passed on very often and you have to make lots of daughter queens to find the few where they are. If you don't exercise control over the drone side of the mating, I think you'd be unlikely to ever find anything worth the effort.

 

[Finman]

.
My friend professional drives every year to Italy and buy from there all needed Queen. Price is under 10€.

Couple of big dealers keep in Italy Finnish stocks, and lots of queens are imported. Mostly they are better than non selected local mongrels..

As said, if you have a small yard, inbreeding problems knock soon onto your door. And you do not even notice it. But thanks to local 100 colonies around you, inbreeding will not happen, neither selective breeding.
.

 

[B+.]

neither selective breeding.

The thing that I didn't understand straight away is that selective breeding isn't trying to produce a "super bee". The aim is to improve the average yield, not necessarily the individual performer.

 

[Beefriendly]

The thing that I didn't understand straight away is that selective breeding isn't trying to produce a "super bee". The aim is to improve the average yield, not necessarily the individual performer.

Is there ever going to be a commercial spin off to this breeding program?
Like selling these super carniolan queens to the average beekeeper (like me). Someone must have factored in an intensive queen rearing scheme to appear at some point to make use of all this selective breeding.
Or is it simply an exercise in what can be achieved with a strain?

 

[Finman]

The thing that I didn't understand straight away is that selective breeding isn't trying to produce a "super bee". The aim is to improve the average yield, not necessarily the individual performer.

I speak about ordinary beekeepers. There is not such bug like superbee.

Selective breeding means in my speak, that the beekeepers selects, what kind of queens he accepts in his hives. Most of beekeepers select nothing.

I see the quality of the queen when I put it on good pastures. On bad pastures it gets nothing.
Mostly best superbees are hybrid, from where you cannot take daugters. Variation is too random.

.

 

[B+.]

Is there ever going to be a commercial spin off to this breeding program?
Like selling these super carniolan queens to the average beekeeper (like me). Someone must have factored in an intensive queen rearing scheme to appear at some point to make use of all this selective breeding.
Or is it simply an exercise in what can be achieved with a strain?

I think this link will answer your question (http://beebreed.nl/course-queen-rearing-brascamp-151115.pdf)