Should I add honey frames to Nuc?

[Allen]

One of our colonies is officially dead and they left capped honey stores behind.
I have a Nuc in a divided 10 frame box which is packed with bees.
It has two deep boxes with four frames in each box.
I had planned to winter this nuc on top of another hive.
Should I add another divided deep with 4 frames of honey from the dead hive?
I could wrap them with with felt paper and leave them by themselves.
Or stick with the original plan?

The aren't too many days left when the temps will be in the 50's

[Allen]

There are a couple of days when it will get near 60 degrees next week.
What should I do?

[ralittlefield]

One of our colonies is officially dead and they left capped honey stores behind.
I have a Nuc in a divided 10 frame box which is packed with bees.
It has two deep boxes with four frames in each box.

I would add the 4 frames of honey to the 8 frames of bees.

[TheBuzz]

Why did the colony die is the first question? You don't wanna introduce something potentially dangerous to another colony. Once that isn't and issue you can store the honey and feed it to them as needed. In teh event another hive is in danger you will have some reserves.

[Allen]

This thread gives a little more background: http://www.beesource.com/forums/show...ailing-already

At the time I started that thread there were still bees in the hive.
Not anymore.

The verdict seems to be a combination of things. Mites and not enough bees to take care of the existing brood.
The toothpick test came up negative.

The queen seemed a little behind all summer.
I had thought about requeening back in July but was told to wait and see how she does.

[Michael Palmer]

I would add the four frames of honey.

[Allen]

Thanks much.

[sfisher]

Michael Palmer in a situation such as Allens would it hurt to just make the bees a regular ten frame hive, instead of 12 frames, four per box stacked three boxes high? If not why?

[Michael Palmer]

Bees in a cold winter have difficulty...some really do...moving sideways. Oh oh...now I've started someghing. The keeper is in PA, a bit different than SC. The ancestor of our bees in Europe lived in the only cavities available to them...trees. The cavity in trees is vertical, not horizontal, and the bees move up more easily than sideways. Of course, I've wintered singles before. Lots of times. But, it's often a factor of cluster size, and not hive configuration. If a single has a big cluster going into winter, they don't have to move sideways to get to the stores they need. They're already on those stores. But, not knowing how populous Allen's little colony is, the best advice I can give is to allow them to move up. Adding those extra honey combs will insure they have enough feed to last until spring.

I used to winter 400+ single story nucs. Results were mixed, sometimes a 25% loss. Had to move them above production hives for winter. By adding a second story to each, I don't have to move them, and they winter so well, less than 10% loss, I wouldn't go back to singles if I can allow them to expand upward onto additional combs, while maintaining them in a smaller cavity than a full sized production hive.

[sfisher]

Thanks