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Author Topic: How I am wintering 4 NUCS  (Read 2530 times)

Offline BMAC

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How I am wintering 4 NUCS
« on: November 09, 2007, 07:22:33 pm »
I made some makeshift entrances for my hive frmo blocks of 2*4 lumber.  I attached an old garden hose to the end and I now have 4 NUCS in my garage.  The entire system is far from perfect.  I have about 100 bees roaming freely in my garage.  They have been there for 3 days now.  I went thru again today and think I have sealed up all the little holes with duct tape that needed to be sealed.

Far from a perfect system.  I figured I will take my electric heater in the spring time to hyper activate them and get them working early to build up nice strong colonies for the first of April.  It would be pretty cool to make splits with them by that time.  Well time will tell how successful all this is going to be.  I wil of course have to feed them countinously throughout the winter months.  Not a biggie.  I have already considered this.

I just hope the 100 or so that is in the garage die off quick before they cover everything in bee poop.

Here are the pics.....


This picture is the outside of my garage where they come and go.

God Bless all the troops
Semper Fi Marines!

Offline BMAC

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Re: How I am wintering 4 NUCS
« Reply #1 on: November 09, 2007, 07:29:18 pm »
This is a close up of the entery/exit points for the bees.



THe next is a shot of the boxes in my garage



This picture is a snap shot of the lids I made.  They are very crude, however I think they will do the trick.

You probably cant see their little bee legs sticking out in the picture but I sure could see all those tiny little bee legs sticking out of the screen material.


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Semper Fi Marines!

Offline BMAC

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Re: How I am wintering 4 NUCS
« Reply #2 on: November 09, 2007, 07:34:03 pm »
Here is a shot of the bottom boards I am using.  A fellow Beekeeper gave me these boards.  I sure did appreciate it.



You can also see all the bees starting to congregate in the window.  There is about 5 * the amount in the window now...



Dang.  I sure hope I sealed off all the leaks in the boxes.  I think I better commit to using new equipment next time.  Word to the wise, if you want bees in your house in a box, take a close look at all the small cracks and what not.  Them suckers slip thru some aweful small holes...

Anyway enjoy and let me know what you all think.....
God Bless all the troops
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Offline Shawn

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Re: How I am wintering 4 NUCS
« Reply #3 on: November 09, 2007, 08:40:19 pm »
Glad you posted that. A frined here in town just came back from a be convention in Wyoming. He was on vacation and happened to find it. Anyway he brought me back losts of magazines and cards. Anyway he told me he has someone that has a swarm on thier porch and is going to go get it when the person calls. I was thinking about drilling a hole in the side on my shed, run a piece of PVC pipe from the bottom entrance that I was going to reduce out through the wall. So Basically it would be like a observation hive that you can not observe. Anyone see anything wrong with this idea?

Offline Moonshae

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Re: How I am wintering 4 NUCS
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2007, 09:15:52 pm »
I'm basically doing the same thing, but in my basement. With the exit tubes, it seemed like it would be just like a non-observable ob hive. You may need to feed through the winter, though.
"The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with beer." - Egyptian Proverb, 2200 BC

Offline Robo

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Re: How I am wintering 4 NUCS
« Reply #5 on: November 09, 2007, 09:31:24 pm »
BMAC,

Very similar setup to what I use to do.   
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php?topic=10748.msg70719#msg70719

It is good that you provided them bottom and top ventilation.  I got the better results that way.  I also found out that feeding syrup gave them dysentery at a much higher rate that feeding sugar candy.   I have now switched to outside nuc with supplemental heating and have had much better success.   Being they are in the garage,  you should not have the difficulties I had with the basement and the temperature remaining too constant (and cool) in the spring and getting them to fly was always an issue.


Good luck....
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Offline BMAC

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Re: How I am wintering 4 NUCS
« Reply #6 on: November 10, 2007, 07:10:58 am »
Robo I tried to make sure they all had as much capped frames of honey as possible to keep the feeding at a minimum.  I remember reading your post about the temps in the basement being too constant for spring weather.  That is why I figured I would place a small space heater close to them and throw it on high on the nice spring days. :)

We will see how it all turns out..  Thanks for the comments on it.
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Offline Michael Bush

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Offline rdy-b

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Re: How I am wintering 4 NUCS
« Reply #8 on: November 10, 2007, 10:32:09 pm »
I wonder if you could slip a big  card board box over the hive so the vents still vented -but they where in darkness so they arnt always trying to get out by the light that comes through -must be stressful to them- if they where calm they might be happier -I dont know what do you think  RDY-B

Offline BMAC

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Re: How I am wintering 4 NUCS
« Reply #9 on: November 11, 2007, 12:51:57 am »
I think that might be a great idea.  I also believe I need to keep the box about 4 inches off the top of the hives...
I will try and make this happen and let you know how it turns out.

Of course I willl have to remove the box every week or so when I feed them......
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