Beesource Beekeeping Forums banner

How do you start?

3K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  beepro 
#1 ·
In the interest of sustainability and security I would like to start creating a population of queens to have on hand for emergencies and expansion. Ideally I would like to have an apairy no larger than six production hives but with enough resources to replenish all but catastrophic losses.

The problem is I have no idea how to start. Ideally I would like to keep things simple as possible.

I currently have three hives, carnolians that survived their first winter well, by luck or by breeding I do not know but I am so far I am happy with them. They are as gentle as lambs and seem healthy. Last year I lost one hive because it became queenless and I was unable to raise another one, I ended up combining that one in with the others just before fall.

So what is your advice for creating a stockpile of health queens that can be used as needed? Ideally in a manner that could be overwintered.
 
#2 ·
The best way is to do hive management. What do I mean by that? You start out small in a 3-5 frame nuc. And then let them grow
into a double nuc and finally into a full size hive (if you want to.) This is how the pros manage them here.
You can only manage so many so sometime you have to sell some nucs to balance things out. Three hives are not that hard to make.
The queens must have a healthy home to go to. Cannot bank them because they will not be free and happy productive queens.
Start by step:
1) Choose the best gentle and most productive hive you want the queens to come from with lots of bee population.
2) Do a graft for the queens using the OTS notching method.
3) Use the queen rearing calendar to approximate the queens' hatching date. Choose the best 3 queens to put in 3 separate nucs.
4) Separate the queen in 3-5 frames nuc. Take out 1 frame of nursing bees with sealed broods, 2 frames of pollen/honey mix, 2 frames of worker bees.
5) Put the cell inside the nuc hive just before she hatch. Wait for queen mating flight and after that evaluate for egg laying pattern.
The End! Enjoy your back up queen colony just in case....
 
#3 ·
I like the way Michael Palmer talks about it. Store queens in nucs, look at nucs as queens with support staff.
You mentioned wanting to keep it simple. I suggest you make up 3 nucs as splits from your 3 survivors. See how big you can grow them by season's end. As the season progresses, another round of splits can be made if needed to replace non-performers, or as increase going into winter. I know your winters are harsh, I think Michael's is as well, and he likes over wintering in two story nucs. I don't know what you could work into in your location, but it might be nice to try and see what you can get to work there.
 
#5 ·
Move the queens you have now to a nuc with a couple frames of bees. Let the hives make new queens. If you do this right as the flow is starting it will do a couple things for you.
It will give you the extra queens you are looking for.
It will help with swarming.
The bigger hives will make better queens than if you let the nucs raise the queens.
It is a simple way to make a few extra queens.
The nucs will come in handy for helping a weak hive. ie. Bee resources
The nucs will help next spring if you loose any hives over next winter.
 
#6 ·
For starting Nucs, either making their own queens or taking queens from my existing hives do I need a second location to move them to or can I set up the nucs next to my other hives?

Bears are a major problem where I live and I have invested a fair bit of money and effort into building a small bear proof apiary, I'm not sure I could afford to build another one just for nucs.
 
#9 ·
You can use standard equipment for a nuc. Don't have to build one. But he inside empty space has to be
filled up with foam or plastic so they not have the cold extra space. I hive 5 nucs from the medium hive.
And you don't have to put the nuc in another apiary. Use the existing one but set them aside away from
the strong hives so they not get rob. Reducing the entrance so they can defend themselves is good also. Of
course, keep them away from the bad old bears too. I place all mine just 5 to 15 feet away from each others.
So far they all leave each others alone and collecting their own nectar and pollen.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top