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Author Topic: Spring management of stacked nuc  (Read 1983 times)

Offline cinch123

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Spring management of stacked nuc
« on: April 05, 2013, 03:39:30 pm »
I have a four-story 6-frame medium setup with a colony that made it through the long NE Ohio winter. I have not done a full inspection on them yet, but from peeking at them I see bees covering the tops of four frames in the third box. Fourth box is still full of honey. I don't know how far down the cluster goes. I would like to use this colony for honey production this year, as my other (2012 package bee) colonies died during the winter months. I'd like to move them out of these 6-frame boxes into a 10 frame hive. When I get into the hive, if I find brood split between two boxes, should I move everything into a single box, or is it better to keep the cluster structure intact and put them in two boxes, but with all that extra room on either side of the cluster?

Offline Finski

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Re: Spring management of stacked nuc
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2013, 03:56:24 pm »
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So you have 24 medium frames, of which 6 are capped honey frames.

You have  frames to 2  normal medium boxes.

Get a normal medium size hive, and move frames to. Put brood frames into top box.

Did you treat hive against varroa?

Take care that the hive has allways 2 - 3 frames food. But don't keep in spring too much food. It limits the laying space.


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Offline cinch123

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Re: Spring management of stacked nuc
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2013, 09:30:42 pm »
OK that's the kind of advice I was looking for. When I move the brood and bees to the new hive top box along with a couple extra food frames, what should I put in the bottom box? Just some drawn comb frames?

I have not treated them for varroa. They had an extremely low mite count in fall.

Offline Finski

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Re: Spring management of stacked nuc
« Reply #3 on: April 06, 2013, 06:53:46 am »
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I know that there is no "extremely low" level of varroa and there is no so low level of varroa that you need not treat the hives.

10 mites will be 1000 mites 6  months later. Perhaps you have read  a research that "among untreated hives winter losses were 66%."

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One drone pupa produces 10 fertile mites. 10 frames with one pupa in each  produces 100 mites. So it goes.

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Offline Orlando

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Re: Re: Spring management of stacked nuc
« Reply #4 on: April 06, 2013, 07:58:56 am »
--10 mites will be 1000 mites 6  months later. Perhaps you have read  a research that "among untreated hives winter losses were 66%"--

 I would guess that the long term goal for those who dont treat is to breed from the 34% and eventually have a more varroa resistant stock. With the end result being a high percentage of survivors.

That 66% # would also contain a number of variables not related to varroa treatment.

I might have read the winter was really hard on everyone.

Offline Finski

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Re: Re: Spring management of stacked nuc
« Reply #5 on: April 06, 2013, 10:35:54 am »


 I would guess that the long term goal for those


perhaps.  mite tolerant bee breeding has lasted at least 20 years and things have become worse.

If hobby beekeepers want to sacrifise their hives to "the long term goal" like in communism, no one can help.

Like one guy said "let them kill their hives. I sell them new ones in spring."

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Offline Orlando

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Re: Re: Spring management of stacked nuc
« Reply #6 on: April 06, 2013, 04:39:06 pm »
I believe your communism analogy might be a bit out of context....

I guess that is the beauty of individual liberty vice communism, we are free in this country to make different choices and form various opinions.

The treat dont treat debate Im sure will go on for some time. The individual is best encouraged to research the pros/cons of both and choose a methodology

Offline Finski

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Re: Re: Spring management of stacked nuc
« Reply #7 on: April 06, 2013, 06:24:29 pm »
I believe your communism analogy might be a bit out of context....


Yes, it was really hard to invent but finally I almost succeeded...

After third generation communists tired to wait for better life.

In bee life bees have not tired to wait better life after 20 generations.
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Offline cinch123

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Re: Spring management of stacked nuc
« Reply #8 on: April 06, 2013, 09:45:51 pm »
How did this thread become a petty argument about mite treatment and communism? I never said I wasn't going to treat this hive - just that it wasn't treated in the fall because the mite count on a sticky board was very low and there were no mites on the drone brood I pulled. And lo and behold - this hive survived the winter. I'll check for mites again and make a decision on treatment.

Thank you for the advice on moving my nuc to a full hive - that's what I came here to find.