Installing a nucleus of bees in the Flow Hive

My assumption is that I do not open up the NUC when I said it beside their new home between noon and 2 o’clock? I just leave them closed up and oriented correctly?

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OK, this is what I did with my first nuc which had come 150 miles to a friends farm that morning. I collected it at 10am. I had the hive ready next to the stand. I put the nuc on the stand and left it for half an hour. I opened it and I let them fly for the rest of the day then transferred them at about midday the following day while most of the foragers were busy away from the hive. It worked a treat and was easy on me and the bees

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Yes.

As Dee says, 30 mins may be enough if you want to just open the nuc entrance wait until the next day to install. This is assuming it has an entrance that can be opened easily. Some of the temporary boxes (cardboard) need a knife to cut the entrance open, and that can be tricky and jerky on the frames - opening the lid may be a lot easier.

The other minor point is that if you open the nuc entrance a day before moving the frames, the bees will do orientation flights, and remember the nucleus position. You MUST therefore place your nucleus as close to the hive as possible, because moving a hive more than 2 feet but less than 2 miles can cause a lot of bee confusion and homeless bees clustering where the (now absent) hive used to be. You also need to get rid of your nucleus box from the apiary after transferring the frames and loose bees, because the smell of the old box may confuse them a lot! :blush:

Dawn

Hi Marty, I transferred a nuc into a Flow hive y’day at around 3.00 pm. Just transfer the frames one by one into the hive.

I cautiously did it without a veil or smoke. I was showing off a bit to a bloke. He spotted the queen. A beautiful black one.

It’s good if you spot the queen, then you know where she is. I put the crown board on as a lid & covered the hole then I placed my nuc box on top of that on it’s side so the rest of bees can find their way to the Flow entrance. No shaking of bees involved.

I like what @Dee said about opening the nuc one day & transferring the next day.

I have 2 more to do later in the week, maybe I’ll make a video of that. Cheers

Yes please!!! I always learn something from your videos, even if it is what a wonderful resource Wilma is. I wish I had a Wilma… Oh wait, I do, he is called David! :joy:

Hi & thank you Dawn:) We’re both lucky.

I got woken up by rain. My plan is to return a heap of stickies first thing this morning. I better take plenty of smoker fuel & a layer of clothing under my bee suit. I’m expecting to have to scrape down a lot of burr comb before replacing the frames.

Mine was 150 - 200 miles but I was only opening the nuc and left them in there for a several weeks.

Also mine was really hot June Day - probably the hottest we had last year - and air con on all the way home.

So many ways to skin a cat… So few cats… :imp:

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Rain and moving bees to their new home?

I am receiving my NUC on Saturday and it is going to be hit and miss rain most of the day. I should be able to see/watch radar when there will be openings in the sky.

I’m not sure what my question is exactly, but I am wanting to understand about rain and moving the bees from their NUC to their new home.?

Should it just not be raining when I do it? Or is there a number of hours/time of no rain when transferring? Should be sunny or can I do it with it overcast and high humidity?

I am sure I’m really overthinking this :-), likely will call my mentor later today and asked this very question. I wake up with lots of thoughts and need to get them down to help me remember to ask.

Marty do you need to send the box they are in back?

If not leave the bees to build up a bit before transferring them to their new . All you really need to do is open the Nuc when you get home sot they can orient and do cleansing flights - the bees will sort themselves out

No, the box is mine. I will definitely store it for any future needs. Was just wanting to transfer them as soon as possible for I had time Saturday. Sunday is scheduled at this time to be quite sunny and warm.

From my previous posts above and everyone’s kind response I understand I don’t need to do it right away.

I guess what I’m asking is, is there harm in doing this and is there amount of dry spell that I can transfer them and they would be okay?

I’ve heard Patience is a virtue, :slight_smile: that is something many times I’m lacking and a lot of times I just need a slap in the face and told no.:innocent:

Marty what you can do is get everything ready - on a good day - when you do the inspection if you have a box/Nuc chock full of bees, brood, stores, then transfer them to the new hive.

Do you know the worst part after waiting for the bees??

Wanting to check on them every 5 minutes - I’m very guilty of that - it is all exciting and new - I sympathise :innocent:

Yes, the sad thing is, everything is done. I’ve got the water fountain 25 feet away with lava rocks and it so they don’t drown. The pollen feeder 10 feet away mounted on the fence, I put locks on the fence so that by pastors can easily access where the bees are. Stand is in place. I’ve recently added electrical outlet near where the bees will be located so that I can put a camera on them. All is done except receiving and transferring the NUC :heart_eyes:

Not a good idea sorry! Pollen from other bees can transmit disease including AFB, EFB.

When I said getting everything ready I meant the home box ready to receive them - ie Flow Brood Box - all you would want to do is lift the lid and replace the central 5/6 Frames from the Nuc into the brood box

We can certainly sense your excitement MD.
We are all eagerly awaiting the report on how you got on.

Pollen feeders? OK, I get it but every plant is a pollen feeder and feeders are all over the place. My mentor has them setting in the middle of the field on his farm

OK there is a slight miss understanding here - you actually mean plants that are pollen providers for foraging bees?

There is a way to “Gather Pollen” from your own bees and feed it back to them in times of dearth. It came across as though you were “putting out pollen” ie from a source you had bought - actual pollen, Sorry my mistake!! ::cold_sweat:

They are generally known as forage or forage plants

There is a misunderstanding but it’s me trying to communicate you read it correctly the 1st time.

I’m not collecting pollen I am purchasing artificial pollen from

https://www.dadant.com/catalog/m0016040-ap23-pollen-substitute-40lb-bag

Substitute? Does it have real pollen in it? It would be cheaper to make Substitute yourself but why do you need it you are coming into spring - any you put in there will be stale by the time they need it??