Mating nuc orientation aids

[Patrick Scannell]

Does anyone use orientation aids to help your queens get back to the right nuc? Or is this not a problem?

I built a stack of 2 by 4 mating nucs like Michael's
http://www.bushfarms.com/images/TwoByFourMatingNucs.JPG
but I made the mistake of painting them all white.

Any suggestions on how to help the queen get back to the right hole, or should I not worry about it?

Thanks, Patrick

[wfarler]

I usually take them through a power point presentation as a first orientation.

After that they have to rely on the different colors of paint. I am a regular shopper at the paint shop bargain bin - I have quite a collection of $1 mismatched paint - some are pretty ugly. I also put sticks in different orientation at the nuc entrances to give each entry a different shape and feel.

Seen some people use blue masking tape in random patterns.

I have wondered about the different UV look of paints since they see differently than we do.

[ April 24, 2006, 09:09 PM: Message edited by: wfarler ]

[Michael Bush]

Put different designs in different colors on different sides.

I just haven't worried about it, but it seems like Italians have less of a sense of direction. smile.gif

[Patrick Scannell]

OK, looks like it is time to give the queen-condo a custom paint job. I don't want to depend too heavily on the superior navigational skills of my foxy ferals. smile.gif

Another option would be to give each 4-plex a cover and spread them around, but if the stack works, that seems much more convenient.

Thanks, Patrick

[chillardbee]

i had made 40 nucs last year directly into standards and let them raise there own queens. the only place i had to put these nucs was in a cramped little area of one of my yards and even stacking one on top the other and i knew there would be serious drifting of queens if i didn't do something about it. so i bought trim clad spray paint in white, red, blue, yellow, and green and used 5 different symbols circle, square, triangle, cross, and three vertical lines. i took white and sprayed circle on one then skip 4 hives or supers then srayed a square, then skiped another 4 then sprayed triangle ect. once i was done with the white i would go back with the red and on the next hive or super that would be after the white circle i'd spray a red square, the super after the white square i'd spray a red triangle, the super after the white triangle i sprayed a red cross ect, ect, so on and so forth.

i didn't just do that to the nucs, i did that to all my hives and it reduced drifting to next to none and as for those nucs i had 100% success, the only way to have it. i was ever so glad that i graffitti'd my hives

[BerkeyDavid]

I made the entrance covers diffent colors. Don't know if it will work yet as I still haven't used them though!

[Dan Williamson]

Mine are all 5-frame meds. I use the colored plastic disks from Betterbee. I make my mating nucs such that I use a 1x8 board and don't rip it down. This gives some space on the bottom. Then I use a 1x10 for the floor which I cut to the outside dimension of the box. Then I screw from the bottom and then use a piece of 2x4 cut in half for the "legs". One screwed at the front and one at the back.

The "legs" of the nuc box, the unripped board for the box, and the 3/4" piece of wood for floor this gives me enough height for the plastic discs on med nucs and still have room for a migratory top with cleats. I've got to take some pics I don't think I explained it well enough.

The great thing about those discs is they can be closed, they have a drone excluder piece, and a queen excluder piece to them.

http://www.betterbee.com/products.asp?dept=305

[ April 26, 2006, 10:08 AM: Message edited by: Dan Williamson ]

[Nick Noyes]

When we set our mating nucs out it looks like the circus came to town and forgot thier bees. We paint different designs on each one with several different bright colors. If you have kids let them do it they will do the best job.

Last year we made a bunch of 2 frame nucs in CA with cells. All the boxes were white so we went and got different colored marking tape like you flag stuff with. Took about 10-12 inch piece and tucked it under the lid and let it hang down in front of the entrance. We got a good take and little very little drifting.