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outbreeding mites and overwintering nucs

19K views 45 replies 9 participants last post by  DonShackelford 
#1 ·
I have just read about this method by Mel Disselkoen, I realize its not anything new, its been around many years already, but I was wondering if anyone has put it to the test with their own bees to see what the results were. To me, it sounds like it may work fairly well at outbreeding the mite, but its not a method for everyone depending on your operation. If you are mainly into honey production, your main flow would have to be over by late July-very early August so that you can benefit from using your pre-split colonies to produce a honey crop. After this is when you split the hive up into nucs and either give them a queen, queencell, or let them raise their own queen. Then you have the problem of successfully overwintering the majority of all these nucs, not an easy task with my track record at nuc wintering. I would prefer to get responses back from those that have actually tried his method rather than getting speculation on how you think it would work.

John
 
#35 ·
#36 ·
Don, you make a good point about building the same box twice, using a styro nuc would eliminate that and still would give you about the same insulating value. Storing all that foam board is another downside I have to contend with every year too, besides being labor intensive, its getting where I dread going out to put the foam on every winter, there has to be a better way. John
 
#38 ·
John, time will tell whether or not it consistently works. The previous year I divided a hive, and half of it died out early - I don't know why - but the remaining half survived with little insulation and no close neighbors. All it had was a piece of styro on the top and a piece of tar paper.
I don't know if all the insulation is necessary, but it makes me feel better. I might experiment with less insulation on a group another year to see if it makes a difference.
My apiary is inconvenient for me, it is on quite a slope. Yet the slope is south-facing, and I have natural windbreaks from all other directions.
 
#39 ·
Adrian, I am fairly confident that a full size (at least two story) hive doesn't need packing in the U.S. as long as they go into winter the way they should, especially with a good sized cluster, they can handle alot of cold just fine. Anything less than the ideal full size colony and nucs I feel would benefit from some additional insulation. I just don't see how a stand alone 5 frame nuc can make it in a northern winter without some help, I'm sure there are some that have done it though, as for me I will take the time to improve my odds. John
 
#42 ·
Nice picture Adrian.

And just to clarify, I wasn't putting down on wrapping with styrofoam. I have about 30 hives, and am buying 75 singles in the spring. That would be too much foam to handle and store.
I've been out of bees awhile before this year, but have overwintered hives 14 years on the 38th parallel with no wrap of any kind.

This is my first crack at nucs, before the internet, I would have not thought it possible. I agree that nucs need more protection.
 
#44 ·
Don, drawn comb is almost as good as gold, you can never have too much of it either brood or honey storage. I've been there myself in the past and it can really slow down what you are trying accomplish, or I should say what the bees are trying to accomplish. John
 
#46 ·
You'll get a lot of different advice on this one. Once a hard freeze kills the wax moths, you can just store them outside or in an unheated area. Some use Para moth balls until then, some use BT for sale here in the for sale forum, some store over or under strong hives, others just don't take it off until late in the season. I've personally just used Para moth balls then remove them when hard winter sets in, but BT would be a better choice for those more critical of wax contamination.

And John is right, drawn comb is beekeeper gold.
 
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