Queen Questions...

A loose queen by herself in a box? Assuming ventilation so they don't suffocate and a small box... She will starve quickly. A loose queen with attendants in a box? She will probably fly when you open the box. A queen in a cage with loose attendants in a box? This works well and you can replace the attendants from time to time when it starts to smell like a wet diaper...

A queen in a free flying nuc with some bees? That can work until it fills up.

Michael Bush said:

A queen in a free flying nuc with some bees? That can work until it fills up.

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This is what I had in mind but how small can it be? I was thinking of an equivalent space of 1 deep frame. If half the frame was empty how long would it be before it "fills up"? I am assuming the "fills up" issue would be a swarm situation. Maybe that would be a way for a small hobbyist to make queens?

I think that most beekeepers should get a couple cardboard nucs, just to catch swarms. You can then use this to also move a couple frames into to make splits like this. But I know that some of the nucs, like the queen rearing nucs in Styrofoam, are 3 to 4, 1/2-sized med frames. So basically the size of one large frame. The problem you might have is keeping them warm. In a single large frame, the bees will have to spread out and can't keep it warm well. In a small, tight space, they can fill it and keep the queen warm. Just my thoughts.

I was actually thinking of cutting up medium brood frames to half size so it would be 4 1/2 size medium frames in a box. What keeps the queen anchored to the box so she won't fly off when you open it? The tiny nuc might give me a chance to learn how to find the queen.

Just build a two frame nuc with whatever size frames you use in your brood box. Put a frame of brood with the queen and a frame of honey in it and you'll have a two frame nuc.

The oblong rectangle will not be a detriment? That would be assuming spring, summer season.

>The oblong rectangle will not be a detriment? That would be assuming spring, summer season.

I have as many as 200 2-frame medium mating nucs going in a good queen rearing season. They work fine.

Do you section off a medium box or make individual boxes?