Keeping 2 framed mating nucs

[Chef Isaac]

I decided to go with a reg. nuc that can be split into a three frame side and a two frame side. I have a few out in the field at this point with q cells in them.

anyway, I am finding it tought to keep a population of bees inside of the 2 frame side of the nuc. when I look inside, the three frame has tons while the two frame has nothing. ahhhhh!!


Anyone else feel this waY?

[Michael Bush]

Any nuc has to have some extra bees shaken in to make up for the ones that drift back. Sometimes a nuc has so many drift that I have to shake some more in.

[Jerry J]

Sometimes a nuc has so many drift that I have to shake some more in.
MB. Can this be done two or three days later without fighting? Jerry

[Jerry J]

Sorry, ment to add, Without losing a valuable Queen. Jerry

[tecumseh]

yes getting the nucs properly populated is a constant problem. On old boxs that I split for nuc (typically 4 frames on each side of the divider) I have them made so the entrance in on different side of the box. so the first strategy I use to equalize population is to simply turn the box around. the second strategy is to simply add a frame of capped brood to the weak hive.

[Michael Bush]

>Can this be done two or three days later without fighting?

If you have several to boost, shake a frame of bees off of a frame from each of several hives. Three minimum. More is better. Shake them into an empty box and then pour a cupful or so into all the weak ones. Then they won't fight.

[iddee]

MB, If you have a number of nucs needing a boost, and are trapping out a tree, can you use the tree bees by dumping them in, or should you dump them outside and let them take up by going in the entrance? Or will neither method work?
The tree is a half mile away from the nucs.

[MichaelW]

I sat a very small amount of homeless bees in front of a nuc, with a couple inches to their entrance, and they one by one went in. I sat there and culled out the drones as they went in.

Chef, also check for the possibility of gaps for bees to go between the two chambers. I believe mine has some very tiny ones, that ended up causing alot of confusion.

[Michael Bush]

>MB, If you have a number of nucs needing a boost, and are trapping out a tree, can you use the tree bees by dumping them in

I wouldn't just dump them in as they are all from the same hive and may take sides.

> or should you dump them outside and let them take up by going in the entrance?

That's a better plan. Or mix them with some other bees.

>The tree is a half mile away from the nucs.

Hard to say how many will drift.

[Velbert]

Hi jerry J

if you take these bees frome a hive that has a queen in there hive . I would shake out what bees i keeded and keep them over night so they will be queenless so they wont kill the queen in your nuc.

[Michael Bush]

>I decided to go with a reg. nuc that can be split into a three frame side and a two frame side. I have a few out in the field at this point with q cells in them.

Actually a five frame nuc divides nicely into two two frame sides with a 3/4" board for the divider. Even with a 1/4" plywood divider, it just makes a generous two frames on each side, which is nice when you want to put a queen cell with a hair curler cage in.

[MichaelW]

>which is nice when you want to put a queen cell with a hair curler cage in.

Or when the frames you put in are a little fat. This was a problem for me when I put in one frame of brood and one of honey. The honey frame was really fat.

I can't decide which to build, (using all medium frames) single two frame nucs or a 5 frame nuc that can be divided into two chambers. The single two framers seem easier to build, but less wood and space efficent. Plus you can use the 5 framers as 5 frame nucs. I want to build about 20-30 mateing units. Any thoughts?

[ May 17, 2006, 11:24 AM: Message edited by: MichaelW ]

[Michael Bush]

>Or when the frames you put in are a little fat.

Exactly.

>I can't decide which to build, (using all medium frames) single two frame nucs or a 5 frame nuc that can be divided into two chambers.

Why not try a few of each. I have single two frame nucs, double two frame nucs and quadruple two frame nucs. I tend to like the single and doubles better just because they are less crowded. I should have used 1/4" plywood for the dividers in the ten frame boxes and they would have had a more generous space for those fat combs and hair curler cages. smile.gif

It takes a LOT less wood to build a two by two or a two by four (or if you use eight frame boxes, a two by three) than to make individual boxes.

[BerkeyDavid]

Michael
I built a dozen 2 frame queen mating nucs. Now I wish I had built 5 frames so I could use them to try overwintering some five frame nucs.

[Michael Bush]

The two frames are awfully nice to bank a queen in or mate a queen in. smile.gif