Mating Nuc Plans

[jnbgcpd]

I am interested in building 4 compartment, 2 frame mating nucs out of mediums. Anyone have any good plans for this? I tried a search with no luck.

Or does anyone have any plans or links for any other type of mating nuc?

Thanks

[drobbins]

I just built a regular box and cut 2 dado's in it to slide in luan dividers
drilled holes in the sides for entrances

http://www.drobbins.net/bee's/DSC01293.JPG

notice the shim it's sitting on
my plan is to sit it on top of an existing hive and put several frames with eggs in it along with honey, brood, pollen etc
the shim is a double screen board
the idea is the bees are queenless because they're above this double screen board and will build queen cells on several frames of eggs
then I can go back and insert the divider boards as I see fit
the bees up top get the benefit of being above a healthy colony
I haven't tried this yet but the season is apon us

Dave

[size="1"][ March 13, 2006, 04:59 PM: Message edited by: drobbins ][/size]

[Kris^]

The one I built is similar to Dave's, but I used 3 luan dividers to split a regular deep into 4 chambers. I also put my entrances in a 3/4" shim around the whole bottom edge of the deep, which can be closed with wooden plugs. By selecting entrances, I can set it up as 2 frame mating nucs with entrances on each side, 5 frame nucs with entrances in front, or any combination in between.

[thorbue]

Drobbins, are your hives wax/resin dipped or painted?

-Thor

[Finman]

I have had those 4 compartment 2 frame mating boxes 30 years but no I stopped it. The dead rate of new born queens are really big. When you establish the nuc, bees are nervous and easily they change from box to box. Queen change compartment too. Queens peep in their nucs and challenge each other to fight. So they begin to search each other.

Last summer I made 20 solitary boxes and they succeeded spended. In 4 compartment system I had normal problems.

I made those medium mating boxes so that I sawed styrofoam box into 3 parts. Then I made missing walls from stryrofoam insulating board and inner cover too. Boxes are warm and easy to handle. Stryrofoam is easy to clue with polyuretane clue.

[George Fergusson]

>dead rate of new born queens are really big.

Anyone else have this experience?

Finman, were you raising queens in these boxes, or putting in finished queen cells?

[drobbins]

thorblue

they're painted with this

http://www.nam.sikkens.com/product.c...egory=exterior

it's good stuff but kinda pricey
I had some left over from building a house

as for the mating nucs, I figured if I did it this way and wasn't happy I could still use the box as a super with upper entrances and swear I did it that way on purpose [img]smile.gif[/img]

Dave

[thorbue]

George:
>>dead rate of new born queens are really big.
>Anyone else have this experience?

I stopped using supers divided in 4, as I only got mated queens in the 2 outhermost compartments. I must admit though, that I had no dados in the box - only almost snug fitting division boards.
They were used for queen cells.

drobbins: Thanks for the info!

[size="1"][ March 14, 2006, 06:38 AM: Message edited by: thorbue ][/size]

[George Fergusson]

>I had no dados in the box - only almost snug fitting division boards.

Did they leak bees?

I've been planning on making 4 2-frame nucs in shallows because I've got the supers and the comb, but I'm having second thoughts now. I wonder, if creative painting might help with drifting or is it just too much in one box? I know 2-frame nucs in a 5 frame nuc box are pretty popular.

I'm pretty sure Michael Bush has used these 4x boxes. Wonder what his experience has been.

[size="1"][ March 14, 2006, 07:13 AM: Message edited by: George Fergusson ][/size]

[Ross]

I have a couple of mediums that I dadoed and made special bottom boards with entrances to the sides. They work ok. I just finished making a bunch of double medium 3 frame nucs, 3 frames on each side with a permanent divider. I just took 1x8 pine (7.5" wide). I didn't rip it down. I dadoed for frame rest, sides and divider board. By leaving the 1x8 full width, I just screwd a flat board on the bottom, no special bottom board. I drilled a 1" hole in each side for an entrance. I used another flat board on top, weighted down.

[Michael Bush]

I made mine out of one by eights (not ripped) also and grooved them before I assembled them. I also used a cloth inner cover because of the bees spilling over into the next box. I may try running the dividers up 1/4" higher and making small wooden inner covers. But so far I've just used the canvas inner covers.

http://www.bushfarms.com/images/TwoByFourMatingNucs.JPG

[Finman]

One difficulty is to get new born queen into mating nuc.

I took into this method during two years:

When hive want to swarm, I change larvae from good hive to swarm queen cells. So I get about 15 queens. They were really XXL size.

When queens were nearly ready to emerge, I took from raising hive two frames with bees and put them into each nuc with queen cell. Then I took nucs to distance of 3 miles. It succeeded well. No setup difficulties. So I spent whole hive to nucs.

[thorbue]

>>I had no dados in the box - only almost snug fitting division boards.

>Did they leak bees?

Don't know for sure! I didn't use them more than once or twice, so it could just be bad luck.
Another reason for to quit them, was that I found them unhandy when I had to work in the hive underneath - then there certainly was a lot of leaking...

[honeyman46408]

""I just built a regular box and cut 2 dado's in it to slide in luan dividers
drilled holes in the sides for entrances""

"" I may try running the dividers up 1/4" higher and making small wooden inner covers.""

I have one built (I looked at the one in Kelly cat.). I cut the frame rest deeper and ran the 1/4" plywood to the top and rabbited covers that fit each compartment to keep Bees from spiling over, it is 4-2 frame compartments I haven`t used it yet but it looks nice setting in the shop

[Finman]

>thorbue then there certainly was a lot of leaking...<

Me too. A lot of vain losses.

Last summer went without difficulties when nucs were separate.

[Michael Bush]

That's why I always do the groove for the divider. I've never had any luck with a simple division board that isn't dadoed into the ends. The bees always find a 1/6 inch gap somewhere and they can get through that small of an opening.

[Hook]

I use separate boxes myself. I tried a 3 compartment box once, and the bees spilled over, there was drifting, even with 3 distinct entrances, and I just plain lost faith in the whole situation. I use 3 frame deep nucs, but have toyed with the idea of some 2 framers this year. At the end of the season I can combine the two, and get one five frame nuc, keeping the better queen of course. I winter them, and have starter packages the following year. I had a 5 frame nuc winter by itself this year. Thats not bad for PA, but we had a mild winter.

[Tors]

I have just about given up on 4 frame nucs because of ants, unless they were overflowing with bees they got destroyed by sugar ants. I have now started useing a top brood chamber on top of a double screen (mosquito net) and a top enterance. The advantage are :-
If you need to strengthen the nuc you just take bees or combs and bees from below and add them.
When the new queen lays you just remove the old queen that you want to replce along with the screen.
If the ants try and take the nuc out you have more chance to see a long trail of ants running all the way up the hive to the top enterence.

Alex King (K142)

[thorbue]

M. Bush wrote
>That's why I always do the groove for the divider. I've never had any luck with a simple division board that isn't dadoed into the ends. The bees always find a 1/6 inch gap somewhere and they can get through that small of an opening.<

I think you are right about this - I think leaking was my major problem. If I were to try them again, there should be dados. Another thing is a seperate coverboard for each compartment. Then there isn't so much leaking when working in the 4-nukes.
I think I would place the on their own stand - not on top of another hive.

[Michael Bush]

>Another thing is a seperate coverboard for each compartment.

Yes, I use a canvas inner cover stapled to the divider so you can open each part seperately, but a seperate wooden cover would be a nice idea.

Before I did the canvas inner cover they would spill over from one nuc to the other everytime I tried to work them.

Seperate boxes are the most foolproof, they just take so much more lumber...