whatcha'll think about this?

[yes2matt]

Is a single frame enough to start a nuc and expect it to thrive?

[Perry]

I don't know that a single frame would be enough to build and thrive, but it certainly is enough to find out whether the queen they raise is any good. After that you could combine with something or simply add a frame or two of brood and bees to get it rocking off to a healthy start.

[rober]

in the past I have started nucs with frames having swarm cells. what I try to do is find the queen 1st & hold her in a queen clip so she does not end up in the nuc. if the host hive can spare it i'll take another frame of brood, add some frames with honey or pollen or foundation depending on what I have available at the time & shake in some more bees. I usually start with 5 frames but have gone with 3-4.  frames are then added to the host hive & the queen returned. a determined hive may have several frames with swarm cells or make more swarm cells so you need to keep an eye on it.  I had a hive last year that in a 2 week period made swarm cells on 10 frames. I ended up splitting the hive in 1/2 & giving the 1/2 with the queen a 2nd deep of empty drawn comb. that finally worked. I also ended up with 5 nucs.
 from what i'm understanding that pulling the queen to start a nuc will increase honey production & remove the impulse to swarm. as pointed out earlier in this thread make sure you leave brood with eggs in the main hive so they can make a new queen.

[Lburou]

Resurrecting an old thread here...

Rober, how did this work for you?

[Mikey N.C.]

Great thread Lee thanks for the bump.
Haven't seen this thread.

[rober]

I've only tried this once so far & the difference in honey production was negligible. might have been the timing. I have 2 hives this spring that are like a pot of rice that's boiling over other are so many bees. I think they are perfect candidates so i'll try it again.

[Mikey N.C.]

1st, didn't know a Q-less hive with no brood gorges on nectar. Not that I intrested in honey production .

[rober]

I don't think it makes them gorge. it redirects there attention to produce honey since there's no brood to tend.

[CBT]

I guess the less brood to tend frees up more foragers.

[Lastfling]

When you have a hive boiling over with bees - how do you find the queen amongst all the bees.  I went thru mine a few days ago and felt I was lucky to find a frame with eggs, open and capped brood.  Moved two frames of above plus a frame of honey and two frames foundation to a Nuc with hopes of them making a Queen.  Bees were extremely pissed by time I was done Lol.  Picked up 2 stings thru my nitril gloves and two more an hour later as I was walking from shed to house about 50’ from hives.  They carried a grudge haha


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[rober]

you just have to keep looking. most of the time unless I have a specific reason to find the queen if I find brood with eggs I quit looking. It helps to have marked queens.

[Bakersdozen]

you just have to keep looking. most of the time unless I have a specific reason to find the queen if I find brood with eggs I quit looking. It helps to have marked queens.

I agree with rober.  Eggs and larvae will tell you how long ago she was on that frame.  Those that keep looking for the queen can run this risk of chilling or drying out brood, promote robbing, and end up with cranky bees.
If you need to find the queen for other reasons, like requeening, you can place a queen excluder in between the two brood boxes.  In a few days look for new eggs and larvae.  When you find new eggs and larvae you will know which box she is in.  At least then you will have reduced the search by half.
Others may have some suggestions too.

[Lastfling]

Knowing I’d have a hard time finding her amongst all the bees I had gone in with the goal of either finding her or a frame with eggs - whichever came first.   I forgot to mention I also shook 3 frames of bees in addition to the frames of eggs and brood that were added.


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[Mikey N.C.]

Lastfling, where are you located in N.C.? I was going to do some splits but we're going to have freezing temperatures tonight and tomorrow night.

[Lastfling]

Forsyth Co.  May have been a week or so early . Weather report I based off of has changed a wee bit.  I’ll keep fingers crossed they pull thru the next day or so.  If not, it will be a rinse and repeat lol


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[tecumseh]

as to the original question 'what Lee said'...

getting this done as a solitary beekeeper with 200 hives is about impossible... ie not enough labor to get the job done..

I would also suggest the honey flow in Texas (Lee and my own location) is not the same as Chip's (central North Dakota)... our is often called punctuated and Chip's is sometimes referred to as constant (in math terms) but the risk of the flow occurring or not appears to be about the same (and both highly dependent on rainfall).

As a strategy this might also be a good mechanical (IPM) control for varroa..

The other variable worth considering based on where you live is the time to readjust from this manipulation if everything goes south... ie in Texas we have a long season and therefore a good amount of time to adjust to failure but in Chip's case the adjustment window is narrow.