Double nucs
Well, I was up until 1:30 this morning putting together, I'd guess you'd call it, a double nuc. A couple of weeks ago, I bought some lumber and made a medium 10 frame super...mainly to see if I could do it.
Anyway. I checked my hives yesterday and the main, parent, hive is about to bust at the seams. I went through the frames to see if Old Girl had layed any eggs in the frames that I added the other day. Nope, lots of honey and pollen and a little open brood, but no new eggs. Huh. I wonder if I accidentally moved her to the 2nd hive when I was trying to give it some brood and feed. Anywho, I found 3 swarm cells. Yep, they need some breathing room. I added another super for the time being. I go to the second hive, the one that swarmed several days ago, and it is doing awesome! I look through the frames to see if I can see Old Girl. WOW! 7 emergency cells and 1 is capped. I wonder for how long? Oh, the possibilities! I look through the super and find open brood? And a couple of swarm cells? Odd. Sorry kids, there's plenty in the deep, these have to go. The brood had a pinkish, slightly reddish tint to them. Maybe from pollen? Lastly, I check the hived swarm. Well, most are still there and doing well. They're all over the frames of honey. Good girls.
A couple of frame swaps and they have a little more honey and some guests. Maybe their sisters will stay?
So, after the kids went to bed, I went to the garage to see what I could build. Of course, I've already decided to split. Now, the splits will be a be a smidge difficult because I'm only using what I have, mediums, to split the deeps. I am, by the way, in the process of swithching over. So, I get this bright idea to use 2x4's with some 3/4" shims as a base for my mediums! I grab the medium I made and drilled 2 entrance holes and fashion a divider. Darn, I can only fit 4 frames in each side. Oh, well. It's better than doing nothing and letting them swarm. Today, after I get home from work, I'll go split the 2 hives. Hopefully, the newest capped cell hasn't hatched.
I'm out of breath, so to speak and I'm sure your eyes have crossed.
Anyway. I checked my hives yesterday and the main, parent, hive is about to bust at the seams. I went through the frames to see if Old Girl had layed any eggs in the frames that I added the other day. Nope, lots of honey and pollen and a little open brood, but no new eggs. Huh. I wonder if I accidentally moved her to the 2nd hive when I was trying to give it some brood and feed. Anywho, I found 3 swarm cells. Yep, they need some breathing room. I added another super for the time being. I go to the second hive, the one that swarmed several days ago, and it is doing awesome! I look through the frames to see if I can see Old Girl. WOW! 7 emergency cells and 1 is capped. I wonder for how long? Oh, the possibilities! I look through the super and find open brood? And a couple of swarm cells? Odd. Sorry kids, there's plenty in the deep, these have to go. The brood had a pinkish, slightly reddish tint to them. Maybe from pollen? Lastly, I check the hived swarm. Well, most are still there and doing well. They're all over the frames of honey. Good girls.
A couple of frame swaps and they have a little more honey and some guests. Maybe their sisters will stay? So, after the kids went to bed, I went to the garage to see what I could build. Of course, I've already decided to split. Now, the splits will be a be a smidge difficult because I'm only using what I have, mediums, to split the deeps. I am, by the way, in the process of swithching over. So, I get this bright idea to use 2x4's with some 3/4" shims as a base for my mediums! I grab the medium I made and drilled 2 entrance holes and fashion a divider. Darn, I can only fit 4 frames in each side. Oh, well. It's better than doing nothing and letting them swarm. Today, after I get home from work, I'll go split the 2 hives. Hopefully, the newest capped cell hasn't hatched.
I'm out of breath, so to speak and I'm sure your eyes have crossed.
