I’ve got a NUC that I moved to a standard 8 frame box have spacers inside, so they would not have a lot of empty space. I am considering removing some of the spacers and placing a frame of brood from a bigger box/large hive in the NUC box.
In my crazy will this help them out. Was thinking it would at least give the Queen a little bit more room to lay brood once these larvae hatch.
Looking for thoughts. It’s still warm here in Dallas and looking to help the small hive/NUC survive winter.
Hi Marty, adding brood from a strong hive to a weak hive is a great strategy & I use it all the time. Not only will it give the queen somewhere to lay once the larvae hatch, the actual “hatching larvae” will give the colony a population boost:)
There’s two important things to always keep in mind when adding brood to a weak colony. #1 Is there enough bees to keep that brood warm. #2 This only applies in shb areas. Is there enough worker bees to defend the added brood against shb damage.
Great, thank you. two of my mentors also replied back to me today with all most the same info I fill great.
I did do it this afternoon. I am using all foundationless frames. They had build across may of the frames since my last full hive inspection. So I had to do some cutting or reshaping of the honey comb but I finally got the guts to do what I have been needing to do for some time.
Well done Marty, what do your mentors reckon about using all foundationless frames? If you want to be successful with your bees, I recommend using all properly fitted wax foundation.
If you started off using properly fitted wax foundation frames & got used to it, I liken it to: say your used to drinking $20 a bottle wine. Then all of a sudden you change & start drinking $4 a bottle wine. That’s how dramatic I reckon the difference is between properly fitted wax foundation & foundationless.
I’m not a drinker, so I’m only guessing that the difference would be that dramatic.
Well done Marty:) It’s a bit of a shame that the flow people went down the path of advising new beekeepers to go with starter strips. At the time I was thinking it would be impossible to send wax into other countries. Then I realized they wanted to sell a product where the only thing the customer needs to supply are the bees. Starter strips fills the need for that, however not ideal from the beekeeping point of view.
Yes absolutely brilliant.
I could add that if you are using it to bolster a seriously weak colony make sure it’s EMERGING brood, not just capped…which may be nearly two weeks from emerging. The way to do that is to pick a frame with capped brood and a small circle of eggs in the middle where the bees have emerged and the queen has laid it up. One frame of bees gives you three frames of bees
Congrats ! This first year back to beekeeping I’ve been experimenting n do many new procedures.
In mid May I caught a nice swarm n dumped in a 5 frame Nuc. All I had was four wire foundation deep frame n one medium frame with drawn comb. My swarm quickly took
off n grew. The colony quickly extended the comb on the medium frame to the length of the four wired frames. Success ! Maybe I
was lucky.
In less than a month I added a second 5 frame Nuc as my first super ! This Nuc only was doing so spectacular I had to add a second 5 frame Nuc box making it three high.
Somewhere along this trip of growth n learning I borrowed one of its brood frames to help fatten up one of my 10 frame Langstroth that needed help. By end of June I was planning on making it a four box skyscraper … But I got another hair idea. I’d read Flow-hives were much easier to buy n get within weeks (maybe)… So on to the “Nét” to order n secure on of those new flanged Flow-Invention. Wow ! I believe 7days later I walked out my carport door n almost tripped on those two boxes. My “Flow” was here !!
That day I was extremely busy out in my small woodshop … Within two days it was done n coated with four coats of Tung Oil. In my fore thinking I’d also ordered a second cedar 8 frame deep from Beethinking.
That triple high Nuc was fat with brood n nectar plus some capped honey by now. Pesto ! There were my needed Bees (all fourteen n 1/2 frames of healthy honeybees
You guessed it ! The next day I push n set the Nuc aside then placed new Flow-hive … I carefully transferred the Nuc frames in order best I could. That gave me an immediate 15 frames so I added one wired wax foundAction to the empty space. Cool ! I had a super Nuc now in my new two deep Flow.
After a week I added the special Flow-Super but unfortunately our last big nectar flow was nearing its descent ! I had rolled wax on the flow-frame so the bees did seal all the frame cell seam so next season 2017 I’m ready.
Currently that Super turned Flow-Hive is all prepped n ready for a “Long Winters Nap” with a warm moisture Quilt on top ! Hope I didn’t bore you … Good luck with that Nuc n maybe it will be your next Super Nuc. Sounds like Jeff has you on the way to Success !
Thanks bro ! I thot it was you that used the Flir. Cool ! Now your bees are what color ? Mine seem to still be below in brood box so far. But our crazy mild weather n late English Ivy flow has keep our bees low.
Thankz again Marty… I want to study yoor pix’s again.
If you take it during the day, the box is heating up due to the sunlight hitting the box. Therefore every picture I take is early early in the morning so the box has time to fully cool down overnight and it only is showing radiant heat from the bees
Hi to absolutely hate shopping but I hate most of all is buying something and then wanting to return it and returning it online to me is more difficult than returning it to a physical brick-and-mortar store. That is the only reason why I bought mine at the store.
I’ve used it throughout my home as well analyzing the attic, my ductwork, insulation around my fireplace it’s an amazing little tool
This is something I posted before but it’s looking up into the hive from the screen bottom board
I fill great.
but I finally got the guts to do what I have been needing to do for some time.
