Multi mating nucs

[blackcavebees]

As I mentioned in another thread, I had used Pete's design of mini nuc this year for queen rearing. As I only really use a 10" table saw (without having to juggle loads of stuff around in the garage) I wanted to speed up production for next year, so I made a body 3 nucs wide side by side with entrances front, back, front. Having made a template for the rabbits, I made a few of these.

Before I progress any further, and waste wood .... Does anyone who breeds queens (trolls and armchair experts need not reply) see a problem with a three storey unit with a single roof. Five entrances on front, four on back. Painted different colours / shapes. Containing 9 mini nucs and 9 feeders. Hopefully different colours will reduce drifting.

Any comments, suggestions, critiques on concept?

Thanks

 

[sipa]

I can only comment on the system I use, that being Queen Castle.

Comprising 4 x 2 National brood frame nucs in the same box, one entrance per side of different colours.
Ours are all independant sealed units, but no doubt they could be adapted to overwinter above a fulll colony if required. We don't do that.

These give us a very high rate of successfull matings.

 

[Teemore]

G'day Stephen,
The mating Nucs at Minnowburn sit pretty closely together and I have been in a couple of mating apiaries in the South where they had multiple Apidea stacked up on top of each other - all were charged and had Queens in waiting to be mated. My only concern with having them cheek by jowl is that if one queen gets mated before the others, will that lure workers from the other modules into the one containing the mated Queen? I have been told that varying the hight of the entrances will help bees orient on the correct entrance.
Ged Marshall showed pictures of the way he sites his mating nucs and he has them fairly closely together.

 

[mbc]

My only concern with having them cheek by jowl is that if one queen gets mated before the others, will that lure workers from the other modules into the one containing the mated Queen?

Its a common theme with any sort of split boxes or closely spaced nucs that 'weak' queens bleed bees to 'strong' queens - presumably all to do with pheromone levels. If the queens are roughly equal and the entrances separate enough to provide differentiation then both/all queens can successfully mate.

 

[For want of a better word]

From this years experience using the Abelo double nucs with entrances opposite, it seemed that each double nuc, when charged with bees and a virgin queen seemed to end up with all the bees in one side
This with both New Zealand Ligusta and Cornish black Amms
Also now try to get Apidea and SwiBis a meter apart. But that then gives the pesky wasps a chance!

Often thought about a queen castle... possibly would work in a good year.

Was tempted to build a tower with the SwiBis... but knees buckled at last moment put them in a nuc..and now bees are in a polly hive.

Would be interested to hear of your successes next season!
Good luck.

 

[mbc]

I had more double successes than one side success one side fail or double fails with my mini plus hives this year.
I do think its only when there is an obvious disparity or if one of the virgins is a complete dud that the workers migrate.

 

[For want of a better word]

I had more double successes than one side success one side fail or double fails with my mini plus hives this year.
I do think its only when there is an obvious disparity or if one of the virgins is a complete dud that the workers migrate.

Will try them again next year..... can't wait !

 

[mbc]

Will try them again next year..... can't wait !

I have lots overwintering, either on six frames or twelve (two boxes) and I am very much looking forwards to seeing how they do and learning how best to use them next spring.
I had one double box mini plus overwinter 2012/13 and it certainly makes the first grafft easier and more successful to have brood already in the mini nucs for the cells to go into.

 

[Goran]

Double nuc with opposite entrance last and this year had no problems with migrating bees. Although 2x5 standard langstroth frames. Last year I divided one swarm ( virgin queens) and later both got mated. Had no problem with migrating bees. This year I made two splits from different hives and gave qcells in each compartment, both got mated also no problem with migrating bees. The division board between compartment is thin, nothing special. Will see next year.
I am now turning to smaller, separate mating nucs..

 

[Finman]

Does anyone who breeds queens (trolls and armchair experts need not reply) see a problem with a three storey unit

with a single roof. Five entrances on front, four on back. Painted different colours / shapes. Containing 9 mini nucs and 9 feeders. Hopefully different colours will reduce drifting.

Any comments, suggestions, critiques on concept?

Thanks

I used multinuc boxes 30 years and it was an disaster to queens.
I lost about 50% of my emerged queens.

Now I use individual poly nucs. I have splitted normal poly box to 3 part. Then I glue an insulating board piece to serve as missing wall.
I have nucs as much as nornmal hives.

Queens peep in the multihive and call the others to fight. Often I had 4 virgins in the unit, but after a week there was only one left.


Those 3 frame nucs are easy to carry from pace to another. In warm boxes the brood build up splended.

I do not use mesh floor in the nucs. I have only 2 cm x 2cm entrance. I It is enough during hottest weathers 30C.

.

 

[beebreeder]

Totally agree with you finman, I spent hours building a multi mini nuc box as per Alexandra kommisar, to hold ten small colonies with painted empty food tins to help stop drifting, I landed up with the two corner colonies bursting with bees and the rest just dwindled down, gave the box to association but they do not want it, so free to a good home, comes with a lower heater unit to give base heat for inseminated queens, one catch it is heavy and would be collect only