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I am a hobby beekeeper and making a few queens this year and have a question for those with more experience than me.
Has anyone used a MP style double 4 frame bottom box as a QC? I am wondering what problems, if any, I might encounter if I put in 2 frame dummy boards with a frame of brood and a frame of resources on each side and then add a virgin queen. Then after she is mated and they are filling out the frames, remove the dummy boards and add two frames of drawn comb? In theory I would then have a fully functioning 4 frame nuc.
I also have conventional 8 frame Queen castle in 10 frame box and a few "Barnyard Bees" style 2 frame mini nucs. I am always looking to improve and this idea seems to be an efficient use of resources.
I am in CA, 20 miles SW of Sacramento, so our weather tends to be "mild".
My concerns are the dummy boards are hollow boxes of 1/4" plywood and the space maybe challenging for the original two frames to maintain a good temperature. Will have a reduced entry so not "too" worried about SHB. The dummy boards are the same dimensions as two deep frames, so there is a bee space below them.
Am I missing something?
Any one tried something similar? I think it will work and am "over thinking it" as usual...lol
Thanks in advance for your input.
Has anyone used a MP style double 4 frame bottom box as a QC? I am wondering what problems, if any, I might encounter if I put in 2 frame dummy boards with a frame of brood and a frame of resources on each side and then add a virgin queen. Then after she is mated and they are filling out the frames, remove the dummy boards and add two frames of drawn comb? In theory I would then have a fully functioning 4 frame nuc.
I also have conventional 8 frame Queen castle in 10 frame box and a few "Barnyard Bees" style 2 frame mini nucs. I am always looking to improve and this idea seems to be an efficient use of resources.
I am in CA, 20 miles SW of Sacramento, so our weather tends to be "mild".
My concerns are the dummy boards are hollow boxes of 1/4" plywood and the space maybe challenging for the original two frames to maintain a good temperature. Will have a reduced entry so not "too" worried about SHB. The dummy boards are the same dimensions as two deep frames, so there is a bee space below them.
Am I missing something?
Any one tried something similar? I think it will work and am "over thinking it" as usual...lol
Thanks in advance for your input.
