[cristianNiculae]

... my mating nucs and all hives. The bigger ones are checkerboarded so they are employed for now, as for the nucs... some of them are building but slowly.

Is it OK to give them just foundation or foundationless?

I don't have the money to buy an extractor in order to make some room for the new queens to lay.

What do you advise me to do?

 

[Vance G]

You need to keep adding the room so your bees can fill it. Can't you find someone locally to loan you an extractor or extract for you? If not, you might try slicing the cappings off and letting the frames drain inverted in a body temperature room into a tray plastic tub. A lot of it will come out and the bees will reorganize it if you then put the wet boxes back on a hive.

Have you thought of comb honey production until you save up for an extractor or build one? Lots of plans for home made extractors on the internet. Good luck and be happy you have such a problem! You might have no honey!

 

[philip.devos]

Do you have ANY frames, either drawn, w/ foundation or foundationless. Pull the full frames, wrap and put in freezer. Replace full ones with frames as I described. They may draw them out faster than you might think.

Phil

 

[Riverderwent]

...
Is it OK to give them just foundation or foundationless?

Yes.

I don't have the money to buy an extractor in order to make some room for the new queens to lay.

What do you advise me to do?

Crush and strain.

 

[LampBurner]

Crush and strain IF your honey is foundation less, or is it possible to crush and strain if honey is drawn on foundation Riverderwent? Far as I can see it could be but just more difficult is all and might take a bit longer to drain.
t: Sorry to bother you with an off the subject question as I see you are in dire situation but what race of honey bees do you use / have there in Sibiu Romania Niculae?

 

[beepro]

Is there a beekeeper there you can borrow an extractor or rent one nearby? Try to find
a bee club or shop there to rent or borrow one. I think they will build more new comb if you
expand the nest by putting foundation less frames in the middle of the brood nest. Seems like
you are on a flow now. Keep on expanding with more boxes and frames Or get an extractor soon.

 

[JRG13]

He wants the drawn comb if he extracts...

 

[Riverderwent]

Crush and strain IF your honey is foundation less, or is it possible to crush and strain if honey is drawn on foundation Riverderwent? Far as I can see it could be but just more difficult is all and might take a bit longer to drain.

Yes. www.beesource.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-220731.html www.beesource.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-265110.html www.beesource.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-220823.html
Crush and strain is a little underrated, and extractors a little overrated for small scale beekeepers because drawn comb is so convenient for certain purposes.

 

[biggraham610]

He wants the drawn comb if he extracts...

........

 

[cristianNiculae]

The race of bees is Apis melifera carpatica.

I cannot do crush and strain and I don't know how capped brood behaves into an extractor (in case I can find one to borrow).

We're talking about backfilling(open nectar) the brood nest because of my lack of resources and knowledge.

I had made some nucs with the old queens('12) and left most of the hives queenless. At the same time I started a batch of cells from my breeder queen. I destroyed almost all of their cells and will further break them apart and give nucs my cells Wednesday... leave only 2 hives for later production of queen cells.

So far I gave them foundation /less by breaking the sides of the brood nest and have some drawn frames, but not enough.

How does my plan sounds:

1 nuc = 1 backfilled brood frame(~3 kg open nectar) + 1 foundation (the weather is warm enough)

or

1 nuc = 1 backfilled brood frame + 1 foundation /less + 1 open nectar

or

1 nuc = 1 backfilled brood frame + 1 foundation /less + 1 backfilled brood frame + 1 open nectar

Too much nectar for one nuc? Is this an advantage or not? Should I extract? If I don't extract I don't need to feed and thus no robbing... no fuss, no muss as FatBeeMan says.

This is like swing across a large river for the first time - you don't know what to expect.

 

[beepro]

This will make beekeeping much much more fun. Don't you think so?
Extract the green honey and give it back to the hives needing it the most.
Don't extract the capped brood frames. They will die for sure! You need the broods for
expansion now. You can also do frame exchange with the hives that don't have the resources.
Don't do crush and strain now that you need more drawn comb for the new queen to lay.

 

[cristianNiculae]

Thanks.

I don't like the idea of extracting nor crush and strain... not the brood frames in any case. The idea is that I'm expanding the apiary so most probably it isn't necessary.

My single worry is that of queens not having enough place to egg.

 

[beepro]

I see your point.
I am in the same situation with too many nucs taking up all the empty drawn frames. Expansion too fast!
I am looking into plastic drawn frames if they have those available. If not then the new queens have
to wait awhile. I am thinking to cage the slowest laying queen for a brood/egg break. They can fill the
comb up all they want after that do an extraction of the capped honey. Release the queen again to lay after extraction.
By then the flow should be slowing down in your area. The proper method is to put either foundation or less frames for them
to draw more comb.

 

[Acebird]

You said that you have them checkerboarded so that would suggest that they have room. If they have room but don't have cells and their is a flow the bees will draw comb in the space that doesn't have it. So as with all nucs, you have to make sure they don't run out of room and at the same time don't give them too much room. As long as you keep expanding you will be short of drawn comb. When you stop expanding you will have too much comb. All things beekeeping is a balancing act.

 

[JRG13]

The bees will move open nectar to make room for a new queen to lay, you just need to give them space somewhere to put it. You might be surprised how much space opens up once the capped brood hatches as well since it is before any new queen will begin laying.

 

[Wolfer]

With a flow on and a new queen needing a place to lay if given a couple foundationless frames you will be amazed at how fast they can draw them out. I take advantage of situations like this to get more comb drawn.

 

[smilinpossum]

cristianNiculae....I cannot crush and strain either..because I have a muscle disease that limits my strength and dexterity...
So..not everyone can do that..
I don't know why *you* can't..but...
I know you are in Romania, so, things may be different there..but,..here there are Agricultural offices for each county, and the one nearest me will let you use their extractor...free..but, you have to clean the equipment after use..
Perhaps there is something similar in Romania?

 

[cristianNiculae]

Thanks guys for making it more clear to me.

I'll go foundationless cause I like easy living . I've heard nucs don't build drone comb and I already put foundationless frames in between two drawn frames and bees started to draw it.

 

[Acebird]

cristianNiculae....I cannot crush and strain either..because I have a muscle disease that limits my strength and dexterity...

Take two wooden rolling pins and mount them in side plates. Put a shaft through one and mount a crank on it. The crank can be made of wood. Cut the comb out of the frame and roll out the honey like an old ringer washing machine. This will take no strength at all.

 

[beepro]

If they are drawing it then take advantage of this situation to put more frames in by
rotating them out to further expand. This will let you have more drawn frames for next year's expansion.
Store them well to keep the wax moth out. All is good!