nucs----splits

[droneman]

im going to be pressed for time want to know if it would be ok to make a split with 3 or 4 frames but not put queen in for 2 or 3 days I have always put queen in the same day how long can you wait till you put queen in

[Dee A. Lusby]

Depends upon whether or not the bees have open and sealed brood to keep them there from absconding, plus something to even raise cells while waiting.

Regards,

Dee A. Lusby

[Michael Bush]

As Dee has said, it depends. If there is open brood they may try to raise one. If there are fresh eggs you can count on it. I try not to go more than 24 hours and prefer 12. Also there is the absconding issue. If you want to buy some pheromes, you can get Queen Mandibular Pherome and it will make them think there is still a queen around and they won't abscond.

[Robert Brenchley]

One problem I always have with queenless splits is that the bees tend to drift into queenright colonies nearby, leaving them short of bees.

------------------
Regards,

Robert Brenchley

RSBrenchley@aol.com
Birmingham UK

[Dee A. Lusby]

Robert wrote:
One problem I always have with queenless splits is that the bees tend to drift into queenright colonies nearby, leaving them short of bees.

Reply:
Yes, this happens, especially with no open brood or very little open, and only sealed the majority.

A very good reason not to dillydally getting queens put in.

To help if necessary(bees drift badly), take a frame or two of open brood from another colony with covering nurse bees and put in to beef up the split/nuc if a new queen is not readily avail or something happens in getting ordered queens to you in time.

Regards,

Dee

[franc]

I think you'll be ok if you can move the splits a few miles away from the original hives or better yet confine them with a frame of honey then just add the queens at night.

[droneman]

THANKS FOR THE REPLYS WAS HOPING TO BE ABLE TO GET AJUMP START ON MY SPLITS A DAY OR TWO BEFORE QUEENS ARIVE THANKS AGAIN ON THE REPLYS