[chrissv]

Those of you who are old time beekeepers will probably roll your eyes at this post, but for a 2nd year beekeeper like me, it is amazing.

I have 2 hives in my backyard, right along the tree line, about 35 feet from my back deck. I am on 1/4 acre in a residential neighborhood.

On May 20 I made a nuc from a frame with a swarm cell (to prevent swarming of one of the hives). I checked last Saturday and was amazed to find a laying queen in the hive!

The thing that amazes me is when I think that a queen was born in the nuc, found her way to a DCA, mated, and made it back to my nuc all on her own. And now she's laying.

This nuc is nestled under a tree along the same tree line (I don't exactly have the best locations for my apiary). Not exactly visible from the air - you have to go up over my house (which looks like a lot of the houses in the neighborhood). This is the first time I successfully made a split and a new queen.

Bees are amazing critters!!

That is all...


[edit] Here is a picture of what I am talking about. The nuc in question is the brown one in the middle.

 

[devdog108]

Congrats...thats the best part to me. Watch out thought, there are many hazards...like it becoming addicted and you making even more and more and more and more and more becuase it is SO much fun.....Hello, my name is Dev, and I am an addict....LOL. I started this year with one, now I have 12, and only 3 were Nucs that I purchased..LOL...

 

[WoolheaterFarms]

Chrissv, you're hooked, for sure. Get in the habit of marking your queens and you could possibly help others get interested in beekeeping by selling them your nucs.

 

[chrissv]

Get in the habit of marking your queens...

Kind of funny what happened when I saw her and went to mark her. I wrote about it here:
http://stevensbees.blogspot.com/2010/06/i-made-queen.html

-- Steven

 

[NasalSponge]

It is indeed a great feeling and quite amazing.

 

[pbuhler]

On May 20 I made a nuc from a frame with a swarm cell (to prevent swarming of one of the hives). I checked last Saturday and was amazed to find a laying queen in the hive!

Can you share details on how you made this nuc? How many frames and what was on them - honey, pollen, drawn, un-drawn, eggs, etc.? Thanks. Paul

 

[chrissv]

I had a frame of nectar/pollen (it wasn't capped but if you have honey you could do that), the frame with the queen cell on it (which also had brood); another frame of brood, one frame of new wired wax foundation, and one foundationless frame. I also shook an extra frame of nurse bees into the nuc for good measure. Then I put a 1/2 slice of pollen patty on the top of the frames.

I was surprised that within a couple of days there were foragers coming and going from the nuc. I was always told the foragers you bring along when you make the nuc will go back to the parent hive. But apparently either these foragers reoriented to the nuc, or they may have been newly "promoted" foragers (formerly nurse bees) which hadn't imprinted on the old hive. In any case, they were bringing in nectar soon after I made the nuc, so I didn't have to worry about food. They also consumed the pollen patty within a couple of weeks as well.

Fun fun!!

 

[sasquatch]

I cot a sworm,it was huge.just split,now i have 3 hives,32 empty hives,3 observation hives,9 nuce boxs,8 queen mating bks,a trakter to move hives,a trailer,a nurvas wife,a bee eating golden lab,and wont leave home without my beesuit.


im BILL and im addicted opcorn:

 

[arcatamarcia]

I read Beesource and see all the things that can go wrong and problems people have and I think to myself, why do I do this? And then I read your post and I remember why I do this. Bees are indeed amazing. I have to force myself not to watch bee TV all day. My name is Marcia and I am an addict. Thanks for sharing.

 

[sasquatch]

man i thought hunting deer and elk was fun.but when you spot that sworm in a tree in the produce growing side of town,MAN WATA RUSHopcorn:

 

[bhfury]

man i thought hunting deer and elk was fun.but when you spot that sworm in a tree in the produce growing side of town,MAN WATA RUSHopcorn:

Ain't it though!!!

 

[duck_nutt]

i've got the bug too. I have a work van that I keep all my bee stuff in. Though my main job is Air Traffic Control, I have a side line job doing home construction..I use the van for this mostly.. it's old and practically worn out, but it can haul so much and keep it dry. My wife asked me the other day why I keep taking the van to the airport instead of my truck...I told her cause I can keep my extra bee supers, swarm bucket, bee vac, and all my bee stuff in the van and I want to be ready when I get a call!!

she called me an idiot:doh:


but, hey, it's worth it to me!

 

[devdog108]

she called me an idiot:doh:


but, hey, it's worth it to me!

Hey, mine called me that yesterday when i was supposed to be painting the porch and i went and got mulch for the Apiariy instead....LOL....:lookout:

 

[pbuhler]

I had a frame of nectar/pollen (it wasn't capped but if you have honey you could do that), the frame with the queen cell on it (which also had brood); another frame of brood, one frame of new wired wax foundation, and one foundationless frame. I also shook an extra frame of nurse bees into the nuc for good measure. Then I put a 1/2 slice of pollen patty on the top of the frames.

Thanks. There are a lot of ways to do a split, and I was wondering about your way since it was recently done - sucessfully, by the sounds of it. Best wishes and thanks again. Paul

 

[chrissv]

There appears to be plenty of nectar and pollen to be brought in, and it is early in the spring; those helped in the success, I think. Plus shaking the extra bees into the nuc also helped.

I have a second gray nuc that hasn't (yet) produced a queen. I'll check it this weekend to be sure. I'd love to be 2 for 2 this year with nucs, if for nothing else but the bragging rights...

It's a learning experience, that's for sure!