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we finally picked up our nucs yesterday :) advice ?

5K views 16 replies 9 participants last post by  tommysnare 
#1 ·
now how do we kick the girls into high gear ?
it seems that the season hasnt even really started in my area (southeast kansas) because we are still having a cold winter. rain,low temps etc. and the hives we already had arent growing at all.

we would like to get as much honey as possible (duh) while not injusring the colonies and want to split them this year as well.


any advice ?
 
#5 ·
Here in Tennessee you can split a nuc once it has reached a two deep box colony. Feeding will be required "here" to encourage comb building and a population that will gather sufficient fall stores. Only hives with a good amount of comb, population, and stores will produce a crop the next season.

I don't know how long your season is but I wouldn't cut it to close.
 
#10 ·
Nothing wrong with high expectations. You gotta dream if you want your dreams to come true. Life is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In Southeast Missouri, our flow starts in late-April, then comes on with a vengence right after Mother's Day. Mother's Day weekend is usually cold, a phenomena the locals call, "blackberry winter," when the blackberries bloom. Our rule of thumb is to have your hives supered up by Mother's Day.

As for splitting, I don't split my hives in the spring as it reduces my honey crop. I much prefer to split after the honey flow ends, which for our area is around the 4th of July. This gives me the month of June to raise my own queens from the best of my locally adapted survivor stock.

Grant
Jackson, MO https://www.createspace.com/4111886
 
#12 ·
Sometimes you have to readjust your goals for the season depending on how the year shakes out. Seeing as how your weather has not been very good so far this spring, I would feed sugar syrup for food and comb building, and also keep a pollen patty on them continually until they don't take them anymore. If you have any chance of a honey crop or doing splits later in the year you need to give them everything they need to build up uninterrupted. As the season progresses you can decide how you want to proceed. John
 
#17 ·
thanks you for the advice Sir.

But we decided to be as treatment free as possible. we feel that we will start off that way even if it is a slower growth for our beekeeping business here on the farm. But,please no offense to yours or anyone elses practices :)
 
#13 ·
The first year you should worry about building up the bees andkeeping them alive. Then next year maybe honey if these are you first bees you have alot to learn and honey should not bee a goal the first year so many more things to get in order. Just saying. Good luck .
I'm in my fourth year and just started getting honey this past year.
 
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