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I have 20 deep frames of various types of drawn comb from a 2-deep winter dead-out (brood, uncapped stores and capped honey - which I plan on extracting prior to reuse). All have been in the freezer (expect the capped). I also have 5 frames of deep undrawn, for a total of 25 deep frames.
I plan on introducing a 5-frame deep nuc into one deep box and placing another deep box over it immediately - what would be the best configuration of the remaining 15 frame spaces with the 25 frames I listed above to jump-start these bees?
Keep in mind that I also plan on packaging 3#s into a second, single deep adjacent hive. What configuration would be best to help them get started? I assume that they would like at least a few frames of drawn brood comb (5?) with what to their outsides? Uncapped nectar, extracted honey comb, empty foundation?
I'm obviously more concerned about the packaged hive, since they will be starting from nothing. Also, by using drawn comb, would it be best to start the package hive before the nuc hive so that they have time to establish themselves and be able to protect their hive from robbing by the nuced hive? How would I best prevent that?
I have 20 deep frames of various types of drawn comb from a 2-deep winter dead-out (brood, uncapped stores and capped honey - which I plan on extracting prior to reuse). All have been in the freezer (expect the capped). I also have 5 frames of deep undrawn, for a total of 25 deep frames.
I plan on introducing a 5-frame deep nuc into one deep box and placing another deep box over it immediately - what would be the best configuration of the remaining 15 frame spaces with the 25 frames I listed above to jump-start these bees?
Keep in mind that I also plan on packaging 3#s into a second, single deep adjacent hive. What configuration would be best to help them get started? I assume that they would like at least a few frames of drawn brood comb (5?) with what to their outsides? Uncapped nectar, extracted honey comb, empty foundation?
I'm obviously more concerned about the packaged hive, since they will be starting from nothing. Also, by using drawn comb, would it be best to start the package hive before the nuc hive so that they have time to establish themselves and be able to protect their hive from robbing by the nuced hive? How would I best prevent that?