combining a nuc with a colony

Hope someone can help me out here, I need to combine a nuc I have with a colony in a national brood to make the colony stronger, Is there an easy way to do this using newspaper, my worry is the gap above the brood box the nuc won't cover, thanks in advance.

what one of the two is queenless ?

the nuc is queenless

I have a brood box sized board with a nuc sized gap in the middle for such occasions. But only works if you can remove the floor of the nuc. I keep a few wooden nucs specifically for doing this.

I did think about cutting some plywood to suit, but what if it rains, surely the water would run down the side of the nuc and into the brood.

You could put the Nuc in a national Brood box. Dummy down the space with celotex blocks or a thick plastic bag stuffed with something to fill the space.

Tremyfro said:

You could put the Nuc in a national Brood box. Dummy down the space with celotex blocks or a thick plastic bag stuffed with something to fill the space.

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This was my favoured option, but I'm trying to avoid the expense of another brood box if I can help it.

Ah...well you could use 2 supers...stacked? Would that be high enough?

Check weather forecast.
If rain forecast cover with polythene sheet or equivalent.

Thanks for all the ideas and replies, how long will it take the bees to chew threw the newspaper, If i know this, maybe it could be done this week as the weather does not look to bad.

Couple of pieces of wood.

Worried about rain put hive roof over nuc, covering both and tape plastic from roof to sides.

Chew through a day.

Why does the hive need strengthening is the queen no good?

Putting 2 lots of carp together, usually just results in a bigger pile of carp.

gsxr said:

This was my favoured option, but I'm trying to avoid the expense of another brood box if I can help it.

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if you are adding bees to a brood box, which should be nearly full, you will need to add a brood box for the hive to expand into making it double brood, unless there are only about five frames in the brood box..

#kevrhcfag the queen is good, from an earlier split, was not a big split, as I knew I was getting extra bees later, which I now have, like your idea of how to combine them, think I'll go with this.

#yeogi75 will I need a double brood going into winter, not looking for a honey crop this year, but would like to have 2 strong colonies come spring

you don't have to, but how I understand you you have a split in a brood box right, that's five frames and your adding another five frames that's ten, and we still have time to go before winter, have you any supers you could go that way brood and half, that's a brood box of bees and a super full of stores enough to take you thou winter.

Hi

How strong is the main hive, BIAS , over how many frames ?

Is the queen laying well ?

Why not focus on trying to get a strong colony on single brood and get a good honey crop at this stage. Weather and forage permitting , no reason why you shouldn't expect to be able to super for a crop if your combine works.

If I was in your shoes I would work on a strong single brood and super for a honey crop, going into winter with a strong single brood would be ideal, after getting some wonderful honey !

#yeogi75 my plan was to eventually have a brood and half for winter, just hope they can collect enough stores beforehand.
#BrianO the main hive has about 5 frames of brood if I remember right, should really make notes on inspection!! Queen is good

I have a fairly weak (6 frames) q- colony, and a poly nuc with fixed floor housing a queen who's going great guns. It seems logical to put her into the queenless hive. But should I do it by way of amalgamation, or by introducing her alone? Do I forget about the q- lot and let them die out?
My thought was to transfer the frames from the poly nuc into a standard brood, and amalgamating them. They're the weaker colony at present, but within a couple of weeks may have overtaken the other.

thorn said:

I have a fairly weak (6 frames) q- colony, and a poly nuc with fixed floor housing a queen who's going great guns. It seems logical to put her into the queenless hive. But should I do it by way of amalgamation, or by introducing her alone? Do I forget about the q- lot and let them die out?
My thought was to transfer the frames from the poly nuc into a standard brood, and amalgamating them. They're the weaker colony at present, but within a couple of weeks may have overtaken the other.

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You've answered your own question - unite them, making sure the recipient colony is hopelessly Q- first

Thymallus said:

Check weather forecast.
If rain forecast cover with polythene sheet or equivalent.

Click to expand...

Or a normal flat roof with a brick or two on it?