How small a nuc can survive winter?

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lilybetbee

House Bee
Joined
Jul 8, 2012
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Location
High Peak
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National
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5
I made up a nuc in a poly nuc box in May which built up too much before I had equipment to hive it, so there were QC when I did get to do so.

I split it three ways, majority of bees were left to raise a new queen and did so successfully.

The Q was put in a nuc box and also built up and these are now hived.

The reserve was a QC in a polynuc, when i looked after 4 weeks this didn't have any brood, so I assumed she hadn't mated successfully. I intended to combine the remaining bees with my weakest hive, but when I went to get them today I found brood on three frames. Will this be enough to get through winter in a poly nuc?
 
How small a nuc can survive winter?

Just a cupful of bees and queen in a small nuc can survive the winter if done properly.
 
two weeks ago to this time last year I 'inherited' two nucs with 2 shallowframes of brood which both went into a plywood 5 frame deep nuc - they both survived the winter, and apart from one being requeened, they're still in the association apiary now
 
I made up a nuc in a poly nuc box in May which built up too much before I had equipment to hive it, so there were QC when I did get to do so.

I split it three ways, majority of bees were left to raise a new queen and did so successfully.

The Q was put in a nuc box and also built up and these are now hived.

The reserve was a QC in a polynuc, when i looked after 4 weeks this didn't have any brood, so I assumed she hadn't mated successfully. I intended to combine the remaining bees with my weakest hive, but when I went to get them today I found brood on three frames. Will this be enough to get through winter in a poly nuc?

i have got a similar problem, i found a virgin queen in july on the grass in a ball of bees smaller than a tomato, i put them in a poly nuc box and shook in nurse bees from two frames of cut comb framesi wanted to cut into chunks...it is now on a full two rrames of brood and it is perfect non diploid brood
 
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increase the insulation until the bees only need to work as hard as in a big colony in a big box.


More specifically make the power density per unit temperature difference the same.

A simple go at this would say double the insulation if the natural volume of bees is 5 litres as opposed to 40 litres and treble to quadruple it if the volume is 1litre.
 
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Add emerging brood? Feed on fondant throughout the winter? Insulate like crazy? Don't leave 'vain'space in the box? Get them reasonably varroa-free.

All simple ways to raise their chances of survival.

As hivemaker says 'done properly'.

Oh, and stop assuming. It does not work unless you are lucky. Certainly not a good way to manage livestock!

RAB
 
Done with success in a Kieler mating hive with 2 added top sections for stores.
 
I've taken the time to work this out using the shape factors in Fundamentals of Heat Transfer by Incopera & Dewit.

I ve taken the hive to be a square tube with a cap ignoring the heat loss out of the bottom with wood with a conductivity of 0.12

Initially we take a 30 litre hive (~national) being fully occupied with 19mm wood walls as the base line

If we half the volume(nuc)keeping the height the same it then needs 26mm wood walls to achieve the same temperature rise for the same density of bees exerting themselves the same amount (W)

If we half again (mini nuc 7.5L) but have only 150mm frames it needs 34mm walls
If we half again (mini nuc 3.85L) but have only 150mm frames it needs 56mm walls
If we half again (mini nuc 1.9L) but have only 150mm frames it needs 117mm walls
ifwe cut it to 1.27 L with 100mm frames it needs 250mm walls
If we have only 1 Litre with 100mm frames (mating nuc)the closest you can get is at around 310mm with wood walls then we need the bees exerting themselves at 125%

if you replace the wood with polystyrene it needs 21 mm of polystyrene for the mating nuc to be the same "W" as a full size wooden hive.
 
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Done with success in a Kieler mating hive with 2 added top sections for stores.

Have used Kielers with an eke for overwintering for a few years now, they work okay, i also use small wooden boxes for over wintering a lot of queens, they have a full mesh floor, 18mm ply or 19mm cedar side walls, and an internal dimension of 190mm x 190mm and 140mm deep...and plenty of cedar shavings for top insulation.
 

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