Making Summer Nucs

GCBA May 2014Dan O’Callaghan

(ocallaghan@irishhillfarm.net)

Definitions(for remainder of this presentation)

• Split – Making a new colony from an existing – making a nuc is a type of split.

• Nuc – A Nucleus Hive, a 3-5 frame colony

• Save $$ replacing losses•Increase production (more hives)•Decrease production (less hives/fewer bees)•Prevent swarming•Produce bees for sale•Re-queen or raise queens•Deal with ‘hot’ hive•Mite control•???

Why Nucs?

Using Nucs• Many recommend maintaining several nucs

– 1 nuc per 2 hives common, 1 – 1 gaining popularity• Some uses (other than selling bees)

– Keep ready queen replacement on-hand– Augment hives during flow– Queen rearing– Summer increase for overwintering

• Create nucs in summer, overwinter for rapid expansion in spring

• Details in Larry Connor’s “Increase Essentials” and/or kirkwebster.com

NucsWhat is a Nuc?• A nuc is a mini-hive

containing a small colony of bees, typically 3-5 frames.

• May be in own box or in divided standard box

This is a picture of Joe Latshaw with some of his nuc’s. Joe specializes in raising queens.(pic “borrowed” from Dana Stahlman presentation)

Nuc BoxesCommonly used options to house nucs• Buy/Make nuc boxes sized to hold 3-5 frames

– Solid bottom– Removable bottom ‘mini-hive’– Deep – Medium – Shallow– Polystyrene (Styrofoam)

• Divider board(s) w special bottom boards to split full size ‘standard’ box into separate chambers.

• Mini mating nucs/frames for queen rearing

Some Nuc Box Examples

Finding the queen?• Very important to find the queen/know where she

is when splitting or making nucs• Methods:

• Visually find old queen while splitting (very time consuming, not always possible or effective)

• Use queen excluder(s) to confine queen to 1 box 4-5 days prior to split (requires 2 visits)

• Split without finding, check 4-5 days after split, look for eggs, re-queen box with none (not efficient for production hive, queenless period, requires 2-3 visits)

Making Nucs• Typical Nuc creation

1. May use single or multiple ‘donor’ hives2. In each nuc chamber, add:

• 1 - 3 frames of brood/bees• Shake bees from 2-3 other brood frames• 1 – 2 frames stores (honey & pollen) • Frames of foundation/comb to fill

3. Queen• May re-queen as in standard split• May move old queen from donor hive• May let them raise own queen

Making Nucs• How many frames of brood/bees?

– Deep frame has about 6,400 cells• @75% emergence, about 4,800 bees/frame

– About 1/2lb (1600) nurse bees needed to cover each frame of brood

– Laying queen about 1,000-1,200 eggs/day

How many frames of brood/bees?

Chart from “Increase Essentials, Larry Connor (slide)

Early Season Nucs• 4-way (Mississippi) splits:

1. Requires 1 strong double-chamber hive2. All resources – bees, brood, stores – are divided equally into 4

separate units.3. May be in divided chambers, most often centered in single-deeps

with remaining space filled with frames foundation/comb4. Usually all 4 are re-queened5. Usually require feeding as flow has not started and goal is to get

them into production ASAP• Used by commercial pollinators for rapid early season

build-up/increase• Good method for dealing with large ‘hot’ hive• MUST have queens as no drones available for mating

Mid-Season Nucs• Usually used for swarm control. Goal is to keep production hive

intact but stop swarming.1. Strong, crowded production hive, with or without queen cells2. Amount of bees/brood/stores varies. If more than 2 frames of each need

to be removed, consider multiple nucs3. If queen cells available, cells go into nucs, queen stays with original

colony4. If no queen cells, must add at least 1 frame of eggs and open brood if

letting bees raise their own queen5. Feeding is not usually required as the flow is in progress

• Letting bees raise their own queen is usually viable as drones are available during swarm season.

• Also a good method for preserving an ‘old’ queen rather than ‘squish’ during spring-requeening

Late-Season Nucs• Used mainly for overwintering – getting “off the bee package

treadmill”1. Select from good production hives2. Use the minimum amount of bees and re-queen method

necessary to make a healthy population in the time between make-up and winter.

3. Queen method varies – raise own, cells, locally raised4. Feeding is variable. If flow is steady, not needed, if dearth, is

required.• Letting bees raise their own depends on time/flow/drone

availability.• Overall goal is population strong enough to survive winter

without exceeding nuc box capacity

Late-Season Nucs• Select from good production

hives. Some traits: – Queen productivity– Colony Productivity– Colony Temperment– Hygenic behavior– Survivor/Resistant stock– ???

(photos plagiarized from Dana Stahlman)

Late-Season Nucs• Use the minimum amount of bees and re-

queen method necessary to make a healthy population in the time between make-up and winter (chart). Some variables:

• Time of year/temperature• Flow or dearth status• Queen method on population growth start

• Laying queen ~week• Virgin queen/cells ~3weeks• Raise own queen ~5-6 weeks

Late-Season Nucs• Feeding necessity requires monitoring and

may change throughout the season.• Early summer, may not need during flow• Mid-summer, probable dearth, must feed• Early fall, depends on flow

• If more than 1 or 2 frames are foundation, best bet is to feed regardless of flow

Overwintering Nucs• Suggested timeline:

• Mid-June, make nuc with one frame of brood & queen cell

• Late June/early July, monitor for feeding requirements

• Late July, begin feeding• Late Fall/early winter, when temp

consistently below 50, crowd nucs together (optional)

• Winter – emergency feed if needed• Early spring – move survivors into

full-size boxes as needed. Photos courtesy of Dr. Joe Latshaw

References• www.honeybeeworld.com/spring/splits.htm• “Increase Essentials”

by Larry Connor.• Dana Stahlman OSBA

presentations: “Summer Management” “Management of Nucs”

• Dr. Joe Latshaw latshawapiaries.com/uploads/wintering-nucs.pdf