Which poly nuc?

[Murox]

You clearly have much slimmer bees than us then. I have to smoke them down before fitting the (old style) roof or feeder and even then a few wander back up and get squashed.

Hmm, that seems to suggest there may be a little care and technique involved rather than just blindly putting the roof on.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I love my Maisemore’s. I make a polycarbonate crown board and deepen the roof.

 

[Repwoc]

Hmm, that seems to suggest there may be a little care and technique involved rather than just blindly putting the roof on.

Yeah I've been putting roofs on hives for quite a while and certainly don't close my eyes when doing it. But I'm all ears - what tips have you got?

 

[Worker bee]

Do you requeen the swarm, the left-behind bees, or both?

You take the queen out place it in a split then they will build q cells rip them down bar one and let that one hatch get mated, if you take two you can take out the divider and make a nuc with it if you want, or keep the divider in and get two more mated queens

 

[Erichalfbee]

You take the queen out place it in a split then they will build q cells rip them down bar one and let that one hatch

Emerge. Beginners might as well use the correct terminology

 

[Worker bee]

Hatch, emerge I don't mind they mean the same to me

Emerge. Beginners might as well use the correct terminology

 

[ericbeaumont]

Hatch, emerge I don't mind they mean the same to me

Beekeeper: I lost my hive in the winter.
Stolen? Blown away in a storm? Forgot where you stored it?
Beekeeper: No: it died.

Of course, the colony died and the hive was fine. Does help if we share common terminology, and it doesn't cost.

 

[Swarm]

Yeah I've been putting roofs on hives for quite a while and certainly don't close my eyes when doing it. But I'm all ears - what tips have you got?

I know what you mean about all ears, those horrible little crunching sounds are not nice. My landlord bought a few maisemore nucs and he was distraught about the dead bees under the feeder. Sometimes it's better to be cruel to be kind and just smoke them down, especially if they are heaving with bees. It's sometimes possible to place it on gently with a little wiggling to encourage the bees to scoot down.
The perspex crown boards are the same, trapping bees all over the top bars. I just use a sheet of plastic with a little flap cut in it for feeding fondant, it doesn't lay so tightly on the bars so the bees don't get trapped.

 

[oliver90owner]

Hatch, emerge I don't mind they mean the same to me

So, are you one of those that think ‘a brood and a half’ is a brood box + a super? Or do you put ‘supers’ below the brood box when you are actually nadiring with that box? Are all shallows supers? Do you not understand there are three different British Standard boxes - shallow, deep and extra-deep? That is why frames are sold as shallow, deep and extra deep (more commonly referred to as 14 x12). It’s why the prefix for National frames is either DN or SN (Deep National or Shallow National).

Using the correct terminology demonstrates a brain in action. If you have one, use it!

Eggs hatch, imagos emerge. Got it?

 

[oxnatbees]

You take the queen out place it in a split then they will build q cells rip them down bar one and let that one hatch get mated, if you take two you can take out the divider and make a nuc with it if you want, or keep the divider in and get two more mated queens

You misunderstand. I was asking if the original poster requeens colonies which have spontaneously swarmed, and / or if they requeen swarms themselves. My own style of beekeeping is low intensity, so I would just let them raise a new queen themselves, but I'm interested in how far people accelerate colony development when their primary focus is bees for honey / pollination.

 

[oxnatbees]

Ah, you were the original poster 8) Well, I'm still interested in whether people requeen the left-behind colonies or just let them develop at their own pace.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

I bought a couple of the original Paynes nucs which had a slot rather than an entrance hole and disk as they do now and like Pargyle, I cut out the feeder to make 8 frame boxes. I use a wooden eke when need to add a feeder. (Also see The Apiarist, April 2013). They are still being used although a bit battered. The BS Honeybees boxes are good and the feeder of two long sides works well as the syrup will always get used up, however I am not sure how long the thin poly frame runners will last. Thornes do the Everynuc and also a cheaper one; Being a cheapskate, I have a couple of those and the bee space is wrong at the end of the frames. The poly is decent enough and the top feeder is OK too. (Top feeder is preferred by me). Bees do well in any of the boxes I have used. I hate the sound of crunching bees - a clear crown-board (or should we use inner cover for thin bits of plastic?) can usually be wiggled and moved to avoid crushing bees too often.

 

[pargyle]

Beekeeper: I lost my hive in the winter.
Stolen? Blown away in a storm? Forgot where you stored it?
Beekeeper: No: it died.

Of course, the colony died and the hive was fine. Does help if we share common terminology, and it doesn't cost.

Saves a lot of confusion - we see lots of it on here - half a thread not so long ago as a result of someone using a wrong term for a queen cell where the queen had already emerged ... there's a world of difference between uncapped as in 'not yet sealed' and uncapped as in 'she's been and gone'.

Learn the language and the terms - they are not that difficult - and use them !

 

[Worker bee]

You misunderstand. I was asking if the original poster requeens colonies which have spontaneously swarmed, and / or if they requeen swarms themselves. My own style of beekeeping is low intensity, so I would just let them raise a new queen themselves, but I'm interested in how far people accelerate colony development when their primary focus is bees for honey / pollination.

Oh sorry for honey production myself I will build a hive into three broods or more for maximum production then a few weeks before flow I trap the queen in the bottom box so she can't lay in the others and all the blanks get put in the bottom along with the queen. By the time full flow is on the other boxes are being filled with honey. Another box can be added so she is producing more brood. Deep national brood boxes

Saves a lot of confusion - we see lots of it on here - half a thread not so long ago as a result of someone using a wrong term for a queen cell where the queen had already emerged ... there's a world of difference between uncapped as in 'not yet sealed' and uncapped as in 'she's been and gone'.

Learn the language and the terms - they are not that difficult - and use them !

I know now how someone could be confused by the term hatched and not emerged fair point

 

[Worker bee]

So, are you one of those that think ‘a brood and a half’ is a brood box + a super? Or do you put ‘supers’ below the brood box when you are actually nadiring with that box? Are all shallows supers? Do you not understand there are three different British Standard boxes - shallow, deep and extra-deep? That is why frames are sold as shallow, deep and extra deep (more commonly referred to as 14 x12). It’s why the prefix for National frames is either DN or SN (Deep National or Shallow National).

Using the correct terminology demonstrates a brain in action. If you have one, use it!

Eggs hatch, imagos emerge. Got it?

Yes I'd be in a bit of a pickle if I ordered 14x12 frames for my supers

 

[drex]

Unless you are using extra deep boxes as "supers."

 

[Worker bee]

Unless you are using extra deep boxes as "supers."

I'm not that

 

[Repwoc]

Eggs hatch, imagos emerge.

Or "eclose". A word I learned recently on this forum.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Or "eclose". A word I learned recently on this forum.

Yes from me but somebody told me I was wrong
Edit.
Yes here
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/clip-or-not-clip.50345/post-767924But I think I’m right

 

[Repwoc]

Sometimes it's better to be cruel to be kind and just smoke them down, especially if they are heaving with bees. It's sometimes possible to place it on gently with a little wiggling to encourage the bees to scoot down.

Yep. I think that's about it. Or do as Danni does and cut out some bee space - but that also significantly reduces the insulation thickness of the old thin roofs.