Adding Bees to mated queen

[sc-bee]

I have a couple of mated queens I raised in a queen castle. I would like to move them to five frame Nucs. I don't have alot of brood to move, but can move a little if have too. I have more bees than brood in my colonies @ this time. The mating nucs I believe may have more brood than they can protect. Temps are warm but bouncing around. Suppose to be 45 here Mon night. Strange weather for us :?.

What are my options --- Move brood and add frames.
                                  Or can I shake bees and add frames.

Don't want to re-queen other colonies.

Will I have to cage the queens. Hope not don't want to stop her laying. I guess I could try a push in cage --- Never tried one before.

Suggestions please.

[Brian D. Bray]

Shaking bees is more apt to cause fighting.  Moving bees on frames is less likely but the more different hives the frames come from the better.  If you have 2 (or more) other hives I would suggest taking a frame of uncapped honey covered with bees from each hive into the nucs.  That would be taking 2 frames from 2 hives and adding 1 frame from each hive to the nucs you make with the queens from the queen castle.  It would boost the population so that there might be enough adult bees to cover the brood and buy giving them stores you don't deplete the work force of the other hives and the nucs have a source for rearing brood and building comb.

[sc-bee]

>If you have 2 (or more) other hives I would suggest taking a frame of uncapped honey covered with bees from each hive into the nucs.  That would be taking 2 frames from 2 hives and adding 1 frame from each hive to the nucs you make with the queens from the queen castle.

That I have. They will have to be shallows (the disadvantage of running different size equipment). And I understand honey frames and bees ok with no brood (if I don't have the brood).

Do I have to cage the queen or take any special precautions? Or just let her run loose? Will the bees try to kill here since they come from three different boxes?

[contactme_11]

Do I have to cage the queen or take any special precautions? Or just let her run loose? Will the bees try to kill here since they come from three different boxes?

They should be ok as placing frames  in the nuc from multiple hives causes more confusion.

[JP]

I'm with Brian here about shaking bees from a couple of different hives into a nuc with feed.

I personally would leave them queenless for some time, then introduce caged mated queens.

Seal the shook bees up like we did at Buds and make sure to give them ventilation.

If they seem to take to her like Bud does to hot roles, I would most likely direct release her.

You gonna move the nucs away from the parent hives?

I would, as to discourage the bees from being able to drift back to their prospective parent colonies.


...JP

[Daddys Girl]

A beek who gave me two frames of brood last year showed me a trick with crushed Altoids/mint leaves in a spray bottle to confuse the scents of the two groups.  It has worked well every time I've moved brood between hives and I have observed no urge on the part of the bees to start fighting.  They seem to go on about their business.

Do you have the ability to do a newspaper combine?  That seems like one of the easier ways to get what you want.

[sc-bee]

>a beek who gave me two frames of brood last year showed me a trick with crushed Altoids/mint leaves in a spray bottle to confuse the scents of the two groups. 

I have heard of adding a little Vanilla extract to a sugar spray.