New queen/combine

[peletier]

I have a large colony that has gone queenless. I raised a few queens from swarm cells out of this hive. One is in a five frame nuc, laying well. Is it possible to incorporate the entire nuc, with queen, into the hive all at once? In other words switch out five frames for the nuc frames with the queen.

Would the newspaper trick be better? Would just introducing the queen in a cage be even better?

I'm glad I have a queen in this situation and I want to keep this big hive going strong.

[JoeMcc]

I have a large colony that has gone queenless. I raised a few queens from swarm cells out of this hive. One is in a five frame nuc, laying well. Is it possible to incorporate the entire nuc, with queen, into the hive all at once? In other words switch out five frames for the nuc frames with the queen.

Would the newspaper trick be better? Would just introducing the queen in a cage be even better?

I'm glad I have a queen in this situation and I want to keep this big hive going strong.

I would use the newspaper method in a seperate box on the top...as soon as they are fully joined you can swap the frames.

JoeMcc

[Dan Williamson]

You would probably be fine just setting the nuc into the colony. Most times when I've done it all went well. Once in a while the queen disappears. If you want a little more security go with the newspaper. While I've still lost a queen this way...it seems to be the safest.

[JoeMcc]

You would probably be fine just setting the nuc into the colony. Most times when I've done it all went well. Once in a while the queen disappears. If you want a little more security go with the newspaper. While I've still lost a queen this way...it seems to be the safest.

Dan, would spraying them both down with a little sugar syrup help when setting the frames in the hive? Also maybe adding some honey-b-healthy to the spray???

JoeMcc

[ME Beekeeper]

I have a large colony that has gone queenless. I raised a few queens from swarm cells out of this hive. One is in a five frame nuc, laying well. Is it possible to incorporate the entire nuc, with queen, into the hive all at once? In other words switch out five frames for the nuc frames with the queen.

Would the newspaper trick be better? Would just introducing the queen in a cage be even better?

I'm glad I have a queen in this situation and I want to keep this big hive going strong.

I was privileged to hear David VAnderDussen this past month. He was one of our keynote speakers at our Annual Meeting here in Maine. In one of his presentations, he explained how he has several nuc's in each yard in case he needs to requeen or has lost a queen. He explained that if the hive is queenless or needs to re-queen, he'll take out frames with good brood and start a new queen in a nuc box. Kill the old queen if there is one. And re-queen with the frames and new queen from the spare nuc. David said the bees on the frames surrounding the queen will protect her and the other bees find they are queenless and quickly except her as the only queen. They communicate with pheromones and the word is quickly delivered with the bees of a strong nuc. He claimed he's never had problems with this method.

Larry

[Dan Williamson]

Dan, would spraying them both down with a little sugar syrup help when setting the frames in the hive? Also maybe adding some honey-b-healthy to the spray???

JoeMcc

Hi Joe... I have never sprayed them down. I suspect that the only times I've lost queens is when the nucs where to small. Say only 1-2 frames and the queen quickly ran down into the colony when disturbed too much as I added the nuc (w/ queen) to the top box. I try to disturb the nucs as little as possible as I am transfering them into the new hive. I will smoke the queenless part heavily and wait for them to calm down before adding the nuc. Usually works very well without a problem. Make sure there are enough bees in the nuc to adequately surround the queen. I try to put the nuc into the colony as a unit. Keep all the frames together. Even when putting the nuc into a single med or deep I will put the nuc to one side and make the queenless colonies beees have to get thru a frame or two of nuc bees before they can get to the queen.

I have checked several days later and found the queen hadn't moved out of the nuc frame area for whatever reason. Before long she ventured out to other parts of the hive...

I do not recommend killing the old queen and immediately placing a nuc into the now queenless hive... I would wait for a period of time first... say 24 hrs... if you don't have that much time.. waiting for 6-8 hrs is better than nothing IMHO.