Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
brood should cover only about half of the frame. Don't brush off any bees because you
are going to need them and, as these are brood frames, they are likely to be young nurse
bees. These frames must be placed in your new nucleus hive.
Place the brood frames together, and put the stores on one side and the comb on the
other. You can fill the rest of the box with foundation. Many beekeepers have nucleus
boxes that hold only four or five frames. Use one of these if you have one. If you haven't,
don't worry - just use an ordinary box with a floor and lid.
Shake the bees off two or three other frames into the new nucleus you are making.
These will be more nurse bees. Replace the frames in the hive.
As you place each brood frame into the nuc, you must check that the old queen isn't on
it and that there are no queen cells. This is important - the whole thing will fail if you
do not ensure this.
When all is ready, push the queen cage onto one of the brood frames in the nuc. This
should be in a position three quarters the way up the frame, and the cage's escape hole
should be facing slightly upwards so that any dead attendants won't block it. Don't push
the cage onto the brood comb along its flat surface because the bees outside need to
communicate with the queen. Shove it into the brood frame at an angle. In other words,
the cage should be between the two brood frames at an angle so that the bees can reach
most of the sides and with the escape facing slightly upwards.
Three days later, check for eggs and ensure that the bees have unblocked the entrance.
If all is OK and eggs are being laid, leave for another three weeks until brood is being
capped over and all is well.
Now go into the main hive and kill the old queen. Then unite the two boxes using the
newspaper method described earlier in this chapter, placing the nuc on top. If you are
employing a smaller four-frame nucleus box for the new queen, you will first have to
place all the frames into a normal-sized brood box and then fill the rest with comb
before uniting.
