New nuc raising own queen

[smiffy]

Hello,
i'm a newbie, in the spring i had a large swarm take up residence in a bait box, they have now filled up two ten frame brood boxes and i'm thinking of making a nuc by taking some frames of brood and young out. My question is, do they, the young have the capacity to raise there own queen from eggs/brood in the frames or am i going to have to buy a queen??? For them to raise there own queen how many frames of brood etc should i put in considering how long it'd take for the new queen to be up and running. any input would be greatly appreciated.
Smiffy.

[Solomon Parker]

The bees are perfectly capable of making their own queen. To make a nuc, all you need is to make sure that both hives, new and old, have eggs. You don't even need to find the queen. Just put several frames with adhering bees in a new box and you're good to go.

[smiffy]

Thank's Solomon,
seems too easy to be true, i dont know why i was under the misapprehention that when making a nuc i would have to buy a queen in and that's not cheap ( well here in rip off britain everythings 2 to 3 times the price you guys pay )
Smiffy.

[Solomon Parker]

If you get lucky and find swarm cells or supercedure cells, it makes it all the easier. It might also help to shake a few frames of bees in to the new hive as well. The older workers will return to the original hive.

[beyondthesidewalks]

I don't know if you have SHB in the UK but if you do you'll want to use as small a nuc as possible. Thinking is that the more room SHB have in the hive away from bees the more likely they are to breed and take over. You can make a 2 frame, 3 frame or 4 frame nuc to hold the number of frames you intend to split and not give the SBH a toehold in your nuc. Then move them into bigger nucs and then a hive as they grow in numbers.

I've been dying to do the same with Dennis Murrell's 4 frame observation hive so I could watch the process but have never gotten around to it. I just keep splitting and letting nature take its course without my watchful eye. Maybe I'll build one over the winter this year.

[smiffy]

Wotcha beyondthesidewalks,
thanks for the info, i like the idea of small nucs, i had'nt even considered a 2, 3 or 4 frame nuc, duh! Ive just built a 5 frame, never mind. As to the, from what i understand dreaded SHB, no we dont have those here yet, just wax moths and copious amounts of varroa, but with the way the climate is changing anything is possible. ( Spring / summer are now 4 to 5 weeks earlier than 20 years ago here in uk )