When to move swarm from Nuc to Brood Chamber?

[Sanctuary]

An elderly neighbour with one hive asked me for help with a small swarm. It was probably from his hive, but then other neighbours reckon we've got their swarms as well! (I'm half expecting them to ask for their bees back)

Anyway I caught that swarm in a nuc about three weeks ago, and it seems to be taking to life in the nuc.

How would you decide when to move the five occupied frames from the nuc into a brood chamber with more empty frames?

 

[Arfermo]

If they are all occupied as you suggest, then yesterday would have been best day to move them, if not before then!!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

An elderly neighbour with one hive asked me for help with a small swarm. It was probably from his hive, but then other neighbours reckon we've got their swarms as well! (I'm half expecting them to ask for their bees back)

Anyway I caught that swarm in a nuc about three weeks ago, and it seems to be taking to life in the nuc.

How would you decide when to move the five occupied frames from the nuc into a brood chamber with more empty frames?

Your definition of occupied? How many frames in your nuc in total?
Does the queen have drawn comb to lay in or is the comb nectar blocked?
I'd have them in a full size brood box but using divider board to limit their space initially, moving outwards as the bees draw comb and expand.

 

[oliver90owner]

Simple. If the nuc is full, they need more space to be able to expand further. A nuc is a brood chamber, too, btw. Ever tried to fit a quart into a pint pot?

 

[Finman]

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Not so simple. Does swarm has brood and how many frames?

If queen is not laying, bee numbers go to half in 3 weeks. If hive has brood, it starts to expand when bees emerge. It depends how old are brood.

Old swarm is special. After 3 weeks it has so little bees that they hardly can keep brood warm. No expansion and no new laying space, because there are no bees to maintain the hive.

When new bees start to emerge, after a week hive really needs new frames and colony I soon douple.

 

[Finman]

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What is going there locally... No one else can know than a beekeeper.

If swarm has OSR nearby, the hive may be what ever.

It is better first to open the hive and look what is in each frame.
.

 

[oliver90owner]

Not so simple.

How can you say that. It is simple. No space in the nuc will prevent any further expansion whether there are sufficient nurse bees or not.The beekeeper must give them some more space (not necessarilly all ten or twelve frames), so into a full sized box (dummied as appropriate?). On top of that, near emergence pupating bees do not need as much warmth as open brood.

Beekeeping is simple. No need to make it seem complicated. But the beek does need to think about these simple basic manipulations.

 

[Finman]

Not so simple.

How can you say that. It is simple. No space in the nuc will prevent any further expansion whether there are sufficient nurse bees or not.The beekeeper must give them some more space (not necessarilly all ten or twelve frames), so into a full sized box (dummied as appropriate?). On top of that, near emergence pupating bees do not need as much warmth as open brood.

Beekeeping is simple. No need to make it seem complicated. But the beek does need to think about these simple basic manipulations.

Jee jee jee. Simple and pimple. How can you say what to do, if a beekeeper does not know, are there brood or unmated queen after 3 weeks.

It is better to open first the hive. Very few beginner in this forum I able to tell, how many frames bees occupy and how many brood frames are. One must really milk that info from the beeks.


Like that one guy. He wants some bees away from super. He had written so much in a day that at same time he could clean 30 boxes with shaking system. Keep it simple.

.

 

[Finman]

Not so simple.

.The beekeeper must give them some more space (not necessarilly all ten or twelve frames), so into a full sized box (dummied as appropriate?). On top of that, near emergence pupating bees do not need as much warmth as open brood.
.

Listen now simple man. When I really started my beekeeping 49 years ago, I bought swarms as much as found. I joined them to 4 kg gangs and they occupied first 2 boxes of Langstroth. From each hive I got 40 kg honey in same summer in one month.

There were primary swarms and virgins.

After that, I have seen enough swarms to tell to a beginner, what to do.

Keep it simple. But first look into the hive, and do not guess what I there.

.

 

[pargyle]

After that, I have seen enough swarms to tell to a beginner, what to do.

.

Beginner ?? OP has had bees for at least 2 years if previous posts are anything to go by and has been a member since 2011 so perhaps much longer ?

People don't always post as well as they keep bees ... a little gentle persuasion to get the information down in print so that we can see what is going on is occasionally needed..... GENTLE persuasion - not a sledge hammer !

 

[Obee1]

Listen now simple man.

Love it.

 

[itma]

I am coming to think that going double-brood on a Paynes polynuc is a useful step before transfer to a full hive. Vertical extension of the comb in a decently-insulated box has every right to be more rapid than expansion to horizontally-adjacent frames in a big draughty box ...

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

When I really started my beekeeping 49 years ago
.

Hmm, in 2012 it was 51 years. Faulty calendar?
obviously mathematics was one of the few degrees he didn't get at that great seat of learning, or maybe it was English literature - Sir Walter Scott: Marmion (1808) canto vi stanza 17 - Now who thought it was Shakespeare who wrote that!?

 

[Finman]

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To me such beekeeper is a beginner who do not know, when to enlarge the hive.

.

 

[pargyle]

Hmm, in 2012 it was 51 years. Faulty calendar?
obviously mathematics was one of the few degrees he didn't get at that great seat of learning, or maybe it was English literature - Sir Walter Scott: Marmion (1808) canto vi stanza 17 - Now who thought it was Shakespeare who wrote that!?

The joys of a classical education ... for the less initiated .... Stanza 17

" Oh, what a tangled web we weave - when first we venture to deceive!" Or words to that effect ...

I suffered Marmion at O Level English Lit ... that's about the only thing I kept from it !!

 

[pargyle]

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To me such beekeeper is a beginner who do not know, when to enlarge the hive.

.

It's not always that they don't KNOW ... it's just reassurance they seek.

 

[Finman]

Hmm, in 2012 it was 51 years. Faulty calendar?
obviously mathematics was one of the few degrees he didn't get at that great seat of learning, or maybe it was English literature - Sir Walter Scott: Marmion (1808) canto vi stanza 17 - Now who thought it was Shakespeare who wrote that!?

I knew that my old friends go in that trap.

In first some years I had 3-4 hives, and I learned basics from bees. Then when I really started beekeeping, I made my self boxes for 18 hives. And I bought swarms to those hives.

I started age of 15 and now I am 67. Nouuu. I am 68

Very funny.

 

[Finman]

Beginner ?? OP has had bees for at least 2 years if previous posts are anything to go by and has been a member since 2011 so perhaps much longer ?

People don't always post as well as they keep bees ... a little gentle persuasion to get the information down in print so that we can see what is going on is occasionally needed..... GENTLE persuasion - not a sledge hammer !

I have been in this Forum 10 years, and as far as I remember, you have tried to hammer me even if your first hive was only a twinkle in your eye corner.

Intellectual poking, they say. Or gentleman.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Well, having been a law enforcement officer for nigh on 30 years, I have been trained in seeing holes in any story, and can smell bull$hit at a hundred yards.

 

[pargyle]

I have been in this Forum 10 years, and as far as I remember, you have tried to hammer me even if your first hive was only a twinkle in your eye corner.

Intellectual poking, they say. Or gentleman.

Me .. hammer ? ... Best check my previous posts .. My comments about you have never been personal - unlike yours about me .. let's not forget the year of taunts about 'ONE HIVE OWNERS' shall we ?

Your beekeeping time may be long .. but some (not all) of the things you say are just not right and should be challenged - what may be appropriate for your style of beekeeping is not everyone's choice. You should also not mistake years of experience for years of knowledge.

As for 10 Years on this forum .. well, your Join date is shown as November 2008 ? .. Perhaps you should spend a little more time on your maths and less on your beekeeping ?