overwintering nucs

[bleta12]

Here are some pictures of some of my nucs I am hoping to overwinter. Most are in 5 frames and others are transferred in August in 10 frame deeps.

I reared the queens during this summer, most of them are Carniolan with some russian flavor, also some Cordovan which needed a lot of help in the reserve department.

The 5 frames are staked in groups up to 3 nucs high. Some groups have 18 nucs.

I put some 1 inch insulation as a basement an top to help the extreme nucs of the group.

The wrap is tar paper #30 from Home Depot.

It is a louse wrap. The rear is more tight, the front more open. All nucs have a little stick under the covet to help with the humidity.

The survival rate is much better than of the nucs that are not wrapped.
Being heavy in honey is a must, these nucs will be unwrapped some time in March. I dont feed mine, just settle them in late summer in some yard with heavy fall honey flow, if some need feeding we add a frame of capped honey.

I do wrap some of my nucs transferred in 10 frame, they are in groups of 4.

Gilman

http://s158.photobucket.com/albums/t97/bleta12/?

[Brandy]

Very nice, I just finished my wrapping before this last storm. It's a job!! I don't use staples which I think would make it easier!! This year I did not wrap the lid's since I was concerned about wrapping the moisture inside.

[jdpro5010]

Please do post the survival rates later in the spring. Very nice pictures

[JBJ]

http://orsba.proboards27.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1162322072&page=3

Check out post number 41 for some pics of what we do. There are some other great posts in this OSBA thread also.