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Author Topic: NUC'S  (Read 3933 times)

Offline TwT

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NUC'S
« on: January 07, 2005, 12:19:35 am »
I want to get me a bunch of nuc's this year for queens rearing next year and i heard the 5 frame nuc's are to big for mating nuc's , so i was looking at getting the 2 frame nuc's , i dont want them little 4 or 5 frame mating nuc's, what do you guys recommend?


I was told i could get the 5 frame nuc's and get super's for them and i could carry extra queens through the winter in case i need a queen in the early spring. (now i plan on doing this one)
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

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Offline Finman

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Re: NUC'S
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2005, 02:57:36 am »
Quote from: TwT

** i heard the 5 frame nuc's are to big for mating nuc's

** , so i was looking at getting the 2 frame nuc's



5 frame is very good if you sart a new hive: one pollen, one food, one hatching brood.  From 3 brood frame you get whole box bees.

I have mating hives, where i have devided Langstroth in four parts. The entrance is in the bottom palte frame. These four give warm to each other.

If you have too small mating hive and egg space is not any more, that little hive will swarm. Also it is easy to take larva cakes from mating hive and give new foundation etc.

At autums you just take middle walls away and you have good hive for winter. So I have 30 years.

Quote

I was told i could get the 5 frame nuc's and get super's for them and i could carry extra queens through the winter in case i need a queen in the early spring. (now i plan on doing this one)


It is better if you raise one box hive and bring it over winter. Those too little hives cause so much trouble that there is no reason to try such one.

If you have 5 frame nuc and you give to it 2 frames brood from big hive, so you have normal situation without continuos harm.

Those little hives do not start at spring and you get just a harm.  You will have weak hives arter winter even if you do not want them.

Last spring I had a hive where was a coffee cup size. At autum it was normal, but during all winter bees walked out and died.  I ahd a hive with drone queen and I changed it.

Offline beesharp

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NUC'S
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2005, 12:51:24 am »
I like having several nucs in the bee yard. They're so darn handy! I often brings my kids and/or other kiddos out to visit the bees and nucs are easy to look in and pop a frame or two out for the kids to see up close. Being smaller they seem friendly'er than the big "production hives" and much easier on my back! I over winter 5-frame nucs all the time in mild-winter Texas. They're nice in the spring to rob a frame of brood(gotta for swarm control too) to boost a weak hive or if I have a hive go queenless, I'll pop the whole nuc into the hive and it get's it going fast. I rarely introduce a queen($) into a hive anymore, instead I'll pull a couple brood frames and introduce the queen into a new nuc. Then after she's laying and established put the whole nuc into the hive I want to requeen, and keep the old queen in a nuc just in case. As I get cheaper and cheaper, sometimes I'll just pull a frame with eggs and let the bees raise a queen for a new nuc. The books say that emergency queens aren't as good, but I've gotten some really good queens just letting the bees do it.
Jim

Offline TwT

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NUC'S
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2005, 12:57:04 am »
beesharp do you have to use the small super for wintering your nuc,s or what stores do you give them to last the winter?
THAT's ME TO THE LEFT JUST 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!!!!!!!!

Never be afraid to try something new.
Amateurs built the ark,
Professionals built the Titanic

Offline beesharp

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NUC'S
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2005, 06:13:16 pm »
No little supers, I've found that small colonies over winter here fine with a couple frames of honey. That might be the trick of nucs is to keep the population just right. Too many bees in the fall and they won't have enough honey or room for winter, too many in the spring and they will swarm. Nucs are always changing either moving up to full size boxes or being weakened by robbing brood frames to maintain the size. If I get a light nuc in winter I'll rob a frame of honey from another hive and give it to them. Here in TX winter is pretty short, so it's easy. My yard is starting to green up with dandelions already!

One of the other things I like to do is instead of splitting hives to increase your numbers is pull a couple brood frames with eggs to a nuc, and let the bees raise a queen in the spring. You'll know shortly if she's any good, the nucs should grow quickly in the spring. The donor hive gets a quasi-effective swarm treatment and will still produce honey crop. One year I did spilts and it seemed like none of the spilts could really make a honey crop - all the energy went into making bees.

One year I found nuc that was ready to swarm with queen cells, so I spilt the nuc into 3 baby nucs and they all did quite well. They say that swarm queens are the best the bees can do.
Jim