Quick background: I lost all my hives last winter in the first deep freeze in December. I decided this year to only manage wild local swarms that survived last winter. After studying Michael Palmer's methods, I decided to try overwintering nucs.
The swarm season here was really late and I caught 3 swarms.
2 are in double deeps and one is in a 4-frame 2-story divided nuc setup that MP espouses.
The smallest swarm I caught (size of a fist) is in the nuc and, oddly enough, they have built up the fastest in the last 60 days. It is now full of bees and nearly completely drawn out. I'm surprised that they grew as rapidly as they did.
A part of me wants to put the nuc into a double deep and let them keep expanding.
But I also want to be faithful to MP's methods of a sustainable apiary. I don't want to buy queens.
Is it best to have 3 strong hives going into winter or 2 strong hives and 1 strong nuc?
How do I manage this nuc?
Jared
The swarm season here was really late and I caught 3 swarms.
2 are in double deeps and one is in a 4-frame 2-story divided nuc setup that MP espouses.
The smallest swarm I caught (size of a fist) is in the nuc and, oddly enough, they have built up the fastest in the last 60 days. It is now full of bees and nearly completely drawn out. I'm surprised that they grew as rapidly as they did.
A part of me wants to put the nuc into a double deep and let them keep expanding.
But I also want to be faithful to MP's methods of a sustainable apiary. I don't want to buy queens.
Is it best to have 3 strong hives going into winter or 2 strong hives and 1 strong nuc?
How do I manage this nuc?
Jared