Caught a large 4-5 pound swarm yesterday and put it in a deep nuc. It was a lot of bees. My intent is to sell the nuc after they get established. I anticipate that it will take 7-10 days for them to draw out the five frames of foundation.
Can I put a second deep nuc box on top to give them room so they won't swarm if they max out the first nuc box before I can sell them?
If so, can I split the two box nuc later after they have filled the second nuc box and make two nucs? :)
yes and yes, if you buy a queen for the split.
Iddee,
Can I just let the split produce their own queen?
Thanks!
I would think the number of bees would be too small to do it and build up as rapidly as they need to build. You can get 3 weeks more egg laying by buying a queen.
Good point. I am trying my hand at starting nucs from splits and this swarm presented something different. I may check my full-blown hives to see if I have any swarm cells that can be cut out and placed in the split nuc using the method you described to Tillie.
Thanks!
Yeah Twobee,that'd be way better that having to buy a Queen,plus you'd have a history of the new Queens genetics for ur own benefit of for that of the customer.