Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => REQUEENING & RAISING NEW QUEENS => Topic started by: little john on November 16, 2012, 09:01:30 am

Title: Mating NUC entrance disks
Post by: little john on November 16, 2012, 09:01:30 am

I see there are a huge variety of Mating NUC entrance disks for sale - Dave Cushman's site shows quite a few examples.

But I just don't get them.  I understand the 'lots of fine holes' for 'Closed - with Ventilation', and I understand 'Fully Open' - but why the intermediate settings ? Why, in particular, is there any need for a Queen Excluder option ? Surely she's either confined (along with the rest) - free to fly (along with the rest), or quite happy laying eggs with the door wide open ...

What am I missing ?

LJ

Title: Re: Mating NUC entrance disks
Post by: hardwood on November 16, 2012, 10:10:57 am

I use them (metal ones from W.T. Kelly) quite often during removals. If you don't find the queen to cage her for a few days but are pretty sure she's in the box, just set it to excluder and let the bees orient to the new location. They're also great for shook swarms.

Scott

Title: Re: Mating NUC entrance disks
Post by: little john on November 16, 2012, 01:32:10 pm

Hi Scott - ah, so it's a multi-purpose thing.  Thanks.

I was planning on just putting a virgin in the box along with a cup-full of bees - close 'em up for 3 days, and then let 'em fly and let nature take it's course. Then check in a week to see if she's been successful. So maybe I don't even need a disk ?

LJ

Title: Re: Mating NUC entrance disks
Post by: Rex Smith on November 16, 2012, 11:39:50 pm

I use a piece of cut plastic queen excluder for the same purposes.  A little square of #8 hardware cloth stapled to the entrance of a nuc box for the ride home with a swarm catch, then the queen excluder over the entrance once I get the ladies to my bee yard.
I've never purchased the disks.

Title: Re: Mating NUC entrance disks
Post by: Beregondo on December 09, 2012, 01:39:15 pm

A very good reason for the "queen excluder" disc opening on a mating nuc isn't to keep a newly mated queen in, but to keep one of her confused neighbors returning to the wrong nuc out.

If a returning virgin or mating queen gets lost and enters the wrong nuc, either she or the resident queen will be killed.

Not only does this mean losing a queen, but if the invader lives and the resident dies and there is a selection process going on with good record keeping, those records become corrupted b/c the record keeper thinks the new queen came from the genetic line of the dead one