Simple way to make a Nuc question

[Brigsy]

Hello all,

I'm back to start asking questions again going (hopefully) into year two.

I'm thinking of making a nuc up to supply to beginners starting this year. Would an easy way to do it be to wait until my bees start drawing QC's and steal a frame with cells on, reduce to two cells, and add into a nuc box with some shaken nurse bees and stores or add feed?

And then carry on with my chosen method of swarm control for the remaining hive?

Or does this sound daft?

Cheers

Brigsy

 

[enrico]

Because you are a relative beginner yourself I would suggest that you just do swarm control for your own benefit and sell any extras you don't want at the end of the season. It is very easy to end up with too many colonies anyway but if you start trying to make nucs you can weaken your own stock.
Don't walk before you can run, just get a good grip of the way bees increase naturally and work on that. You can buy cardboard nucs for selling, just move them from your Polly/ wood nucs into the cardboard ones and charge a return fee.
Not being condescending but a couple of swarms, casts and swarms from other people and two colonies can be ten in a year without trying!
E

 

[Brigsy]

Haha. Fair enough.

 

[BeeJuice]

Your plan sounds perfectly feasible to me. Don't worry about being a 'relative beginner' - people love to make out that bee keeping is some sort of life long apprenticeship. Just get on with it - you're making up a nuc, not a nuclear power station. How hard can it be!

 

[REDWOOD]

Your plan sounds perfectly feasible to me. Don't worry about being a 'relative beginner' - people love to make out that bee keeping is some sort of life long apprenticeship. Just get on with it - you're making up a nuc, not a nuclear power station. How hard can it be!

Surprisingly how many get it wrong
I would just make a nuc and buy a mated queen, you don't have to worry about failed, or not properly mated queens and queen starts laying almost immediately after introduction

 

[alfazer]

As long as you're not charging a beginner decent money, I'd want to think I was giving them a good start and wasn't short-changing them, by selling them a "nuc" with nothing but a queen cell and some young bees. I think people can take shortcuts when supplying a nuc and forget about what it should be....ie. A new laying queen, good full frames of brood in all stages, sealed stores and pollen.
But if you're just doing them a favour and are prepared to keep an eye on things like the queen getting mating ok, feeding, starting to lay and building up, then it's fine.

 

[masterBK]

An alternative approach is combine queen rearing with swarm prevention by demarreeing a strong colony with favourable traits. It will probably produce a few queen cells in top box and then take two maybe three nuclei out of the top box when queen cells are "ripe" about 2 days before their emergence.

 

[Brigsy]

Thanks people.

I was by no means suggesting that I would pass on a queen cell. I didn't even think that was a thing! Obviously getting her mated and laying was part of the plan.

 

[Brigsy]

An alternative approach is combine queen rearing with swarm prevention by demarreeing a strong colony with favourable traits. It will probably produce a few queen cells in top box and then take two maybe three nuclei out of the top box when queen cells are "ripe" about 2 days before their emergence.

Thanks.

 

[alldigging]

http://www.wbka.com/library/library-documents/

Simple Methods of Making Increase (Wally Shaw)


(Plus all the other documents there are worth a download and read too!)

 

[Brigsy]

Cheers.

 

[dto001]

Hi,

I have just read this thread and I read Wally Shaws booklet on making a split. Being this is only the start of my 2nd year. I am going to make a split maybe 2 from the 2 hives I have and want to increase.
The questions I have are:
Can you house a split directly into a brood chamber of a hive or does it have to be a NUC? and if it has to be a Nuc how log apprx. do I have to keep it there before I can transfer?
Is there anything I should do to assist the split to survive as I had 2 swarms last year which for some reason didn't make one just dissapeared and the other I think a bluetit got the queen while they were flying (not 100%). I had assistance getting the swarm in a Nuc and was told to use new foundation and not to feed but this didn't work and the weather was really good around the time.

Excuse the hijacking of this thread and length of post

Cheers

 

[JWF]

Hi,

I have just read this thread and I read Wally Shaws booklet on making a split. Being this is only the start of my 2nd year. I am going to make a split maybe 2 from the 2 hives I have and want to increase.
The questions I have are:
Can you house a split directly into a brood chamber of a hive or does it have to be a NUC? and if it has to be a Nuc how log apprx. do I have to keep it there before I can transfer?
Is there anything I should do to assist the split to survive as I had 2 swarms last year which for some reason didn't make one just dissapeared and the other I think a bluetit got the queen while they were flying (not 100%). I had assistance getting the swarm in a Nuc and was told to use new foundation and not to feed but this didn't work and the weather was really good around the time.

Excuse the hijacking of this thread and length of post

Cheers

A nuc is smaller and easier to keep warm, so benefits the smaller colony. Move to a full size BB when they're nearly out of space.

If you're housing them on undrawn frames then a quick feed after a day or so may be required, especially if the weather is poor, otherwise they can quickly run out of food. Drawing those new combs requires a lot of energy and they will do it more quickly if food is available.

If you do feed you need to keep an eye on the colony to make sure they don't clog the frames with stores, leaving the queen nowhere to lay.

 

[Brigsy]

The idea of not feeding relates to swarm collection. They leave with full bellies so some say not to feed to let them use up their own supplies and to have less chance of disease spread I believe.

 

[Little John]

The idea of not feeding relates to swarm collection. They leave with full bellies so some say not to feed to let them use up their own supplies and to have less chance of disease spread I believe.

More likely "to let them use up their own supplies and to have less chance of ... absconding" ! At least that was my thinking when I used to play at swarm collector.

Also, after losing one by leaving the entrance open, on trust, I took to locking 'em up for 3 days after housing each swarm (always late in the day.) Never lost one after that.

Happy days.
LJ

 

[Brigsy]

Seems fair haha

 

[alfazer]

Hi,


The questions I have are:
Can you house a split directly into a brood chamber of a hive or does it have to be a NUC? and if it has to be a Nuc how log apprx. do I have to keep it there before I can transfer?


Cheers

I use a brood chamber with five frames and then a big thick dummy frame to use up the remaining space. It's made from layers of Kingspan insulation and faced with thin plywood to stop the bees nibbling it. So it's like living in a cosy house, not trying to stay warm in the cathedral. (I heard someone else say that, Finman maybe?)

I also have one brood chamber with a division board in the middle, a floor with two entrances and two half-sized crownboards. So you have two small colonies side by side and they keep each other warm.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

http://www.wbka.com/library/library-documents/

Simple Methods of Making Increase (Wally Shaw)


(Plus all the other documents there are worth a download and read too!)

- a brilliant little booklet.

CVB

 

[dto001]

You are right it was a good read I'm definately trying this. I will try use the brood chamber with dummy boards and see how it goes.
As for my swarms last year I didn't close the door so that could have been the issue!!

 

[Nige.Coll]

Make a nuc with queen for swarm control, raise 1 new queen in main colony, new queen is good sell/give the old one in nuc to beginners.