I was reading some articles in Bee Culture and they were talking about making nucs, which got me to remembering a question I had earlier this year but eventually forgot to ask. When doing nucs this year, I noticed a lot of the field bees returned to their original colonies. The nucs were left in the same yard as the parent colony. What, besides taking the nucs to another yard can be done to prevent this? I stuffed branches, grass, etc, in the entrance, hoping they would orientate on the nuc, but most didn't. I know there are a lot of people who do nucs here but only have one yard. What is successful to you? When do you find the best time of day to make the nuc? I think about noon should be good (when most of the field bees are out and about leaving more nurse bees).
Thanks.
1. Place the nuc where the parent hive was and after a day or 2, a complete swap of work forces will occur, strengthing the nuc.
2. Peroidically pull a frame of bees and brood from the parent hive and exchange it for a partially drawn frame in the nuc.
Same method if using a mated queen in regards to letting the nuc raise their own?
when making nucs in the same yard i put some open brood along with the food and sealed brood. i shake out an extra frame of bees because i know some of them will return to the parent hive. then i close the box for that day after giving it some sugar feeding. when i open them the next day, a few persistent ones fly back to their original box but most start to orient to the new box. the larva also helps to keep the bees in the new box.
Make sure they have open brood and shake in twice as many bees as you want the nuc to have. Then when half return to the old hive you'll still have enough bees. Confining for72 hours will also work, but only if the weather isn't too hot and you provide them with water, pollen and syrup.