What volume of bees in mini plus?

[foghornleghorn]

As the title, roughly what volume of bees compared to say an apidea etc?
Will have the divider in, so 2 x 3 frames

 

[Poly Hive]

A mug full should do it.

PH

 

[B+.]

As the title, roughly what volume of bees compared to say an apidea etc?
Will have the divider in, so 2 x 3 frames

Are you giving them foundation or drawn comb?
Mini-Plus frames are half the length of a Dadant shallow (i.e. 6 5/8" deep).
That would be a lot of foundation for a cup (c 300ml) to draw. You will need at least twice that (depending on how many stay in the nuc and how many return to the parent colony). Therein is another point: take young nurse bees that haven't flown and most will stay in the nuc because they won't know any landmarks. Also, moving them to another site helps.

If your Mini-Plus frames clip together, you can get them drawn out in a super on a strong colony. Perhaps even populated with sealed brood.

 

[foghornleghorn]

Thanks, ye it's foundation I'm giving them. They do seem a nice bit bigger than the other minis

 

[mbc]

PH is right, a mug full works fine. Though the volume is larger than apideas and kielers the footprint of each half is about the same and they're a pretty warm unit.

 

[Plenty of honey]

When we make ours up we put in at least one frame of brood, another partial, i frame of honey and 2 or three foundation (depending on how much made up the previous brood and at least a kilo plastic honey pot scoop of bees or equivalent.

 

[mbc]

When we make ours up we put in at least one frame of brood, another partial, i frame of honey and 2 or three foundation (depending on how much made up the previous brood and at least a kilo plastic honey pot scoop of bees or equivalent.

We're obviously talking about different boxes, it's a six half langstroth frame box split into two halves with two entrances, each half can be stocked by a mug full of bees on three frames of foundation and a feeder full of syrup.
Obviously stocking each half with a frame of brood helps but you won't have any when starting out.

 

[Plenty of honey]

We're obviously talking about different boxes, it's a six half langstroth frame box split into two halves with two entrances, each half can be stocked by a mug full of bees on three frames of foundation and a feeder full of syrup.

Obviously stocking each half with a frame of brood helps but you won't have any when starting out.

He will Have brood if he puts the frames on top of a other colonies and sticks a queen above a queen excluder etc, they will build them up dead quick. We do this for the
Next two to three weeks, then when we have enough brood we make up
More mini plus.
Don't know if we're talking about two different hives. We've seen mini plus in twin configuration but we could t see where to buy them. Ours are the size stages before, half the size of a Dadant super frame. So when the Mini Plus is stocked it has equivalent of 3.5 super frames in it. That's why we stock them well, their not the smallest of mating Nucs!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[B+.]

What volume of bees in mini plus?

Any chance of a photo of these "Mini Plus" nucs foghornleghorn (or even a pointer at where you got them from)?
The Mini-Plus that I am aware of are made in Germany and have 6 frames which can clip together and be drawn out in a Dadant super 6 5/8" deep). I have some of these and the entrance is a small hole in the front.

 

[foghornleghorn]

Any chance of a photo of these "Mini Plus" nucs foghornleghorn (or even a pointer at where you got them from)?
The Mini-Plus that I am aware of are made in Germany and have 6 frames which can clip together and be drawn out in a Dadant super 6 5/8" deep). I have some of these and the entrance is a small hole in the front.

Its the lyson version where there's a divider and two separate entrances, all dimensions would be the same

 

[Plenty of honey]

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14327&stc=1&d=1494316788
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14328&stc=1&d=1494317042http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14329&stc=1&d=1494317089

Heres the French Nicot products called "Cadron" basically thats the size of a Dadant super frame (two Cadron = 1 super frame), You simply unclip the one piece in to two as you take it off the super. This is your brood from another colony. If you look underneath, you can see the frames we make, just a wooden copy as we dont use these plastic Nicot ones, we make our own. However the plastic ones work just fine, just a little more fiddly. The box underneath sits perfectly on a 6 frames Dadant hive, so at right angles you can draw up your wooded "Cadron", length ways you can use the box for supering or drawing up the French Nicot Cadron, by clipping two together. The same size as a Dadant super frame. It gives us lots of possibilities to draw up frames for mating nucs. as we harvest overwintered queens, we then just take the body they overwintered in, add it to the adjacent colony and they take on the Orphaned bees. The trouble is they get so strong in the early spring, as combined colonies with just one queen, we end up having to decompress them by putting them on top of an empty nuc, until were ready to break them down again in to mating Nucs, starting this week. Their so adaptable that way, There is lots of possibilities with Mini Plus. Well insulated too.
Heres also a pic of them overwintering last winter. One queen in each one. We also make our own bases and roofs as we find the ones supplied aren't up to the job, others might disagree. The roofs certainly are better!


http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14330&stc=1&d=1494317468

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14331&stc=1&d=1494318380


http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=14332&stc=1&d=1494319039
Hope these pics help.

 

[B+.]

Hope these pics help.

Yes. This is the type I have - with the plastic frames you wire. They're quite a bit bigger than the Apidea.
Thornes sell these as "Queen Rearing Nucs (QRN)" too.

 

[garysbee]

Can I ask where do most people buy these would like to get a few

 

[B+.]

Can I ask where do most people buy these would like to get a few

Thornes sell them
https://www.thorne.co.uk/queen/mating-hives?product_id=6423 - with wooden or plastic frames