When should you make up a nuc to overwinter?

[pnkemp]

We currently just have one hive, only just into a full sized box, but looking to next season we'd like to have at least two hives next year.

So when in the year would we need to make up a nuc with a view to overwintering it (it's a poly nuc)? How late can it be and still have a good chance to get a queen produced and mated up?

If it's not practical then I've no problem with waiting until next year and maybe catching another swarm, though once they are settled in their new hive we will probably lay out the nuc as a bait hive again.

 

[GuyNir]

Without knowing how strong your full hive is (no of brood frames) it’s difficult to say exactly.

If full hive is strong (6-8 brood frames), I’d buy a Q and install her with couple of brood frames taken from the full hive. Getting a Q will get things moving faster, so better chances of strong nuc going into winter.

 

[Angry_Mob]

If you aren't worried about honey then the sooner the better, wasps will be starting to hinder things in about a months time. As above a bought in queen will get things moving quicker.

 

[Bear]

It’s good to know your planning for next year now! Without knowing what condition your hive is now it’s hard to say. Planning this for next year is BANG on! You’ve the right idea.

 

[drdrday]

Your other option is to leave your current colony to really build up so that they're in a good strong position to make it through the winter. Next spring, it is highly likely they'll want to swarm, so you'll have to do some form of artificial swarm and should end up with (at least) two nice strong colonies by the middle of next summer.

There is a risk to weigh between going into winter with just one strong colony, versus having two colonies to overwinter which might not be quite as strong.

Last year was my first year, and personally I opted to build up my nuc through last year into one big double-brood box colony to get through the winter. It wasn't a worry-free winter, having 'all my eggs in one basket' so to speak was nerve wracking, but they made it through and I now have two thriving colonies.

Obviously it's never ideal to only have one colony, but with the cost of bees to get started it was just the way things worked for me. I wasn't as confident in my first year, that I would get a second colony up and running in time.

 

[Ian123]

You’ve got loads of time to sort it out after the main flow and I’ve even made nucs up in November with a laying queen simply splitting single box colonies. Obviously dependant in the strength of your hive say end of August simply perform an artificial swarm introducing a laying queen into the old brood nest. Or pull off a nuc with say 3 good frames of sealed brood and a few shakes from other frames, options are endless but you will have to judge with what you find at the time.

 

[drex]

Like Ian, I say you still have plenty of time, as I see you are in the middle of the country. I plan to make up some nucs after my main harvest towards the end of August. If you split earlier you have a much smaller honey crop.