My nuc finally has a laying queen! Now I can cut the combs to fit my TBH cutout frames and put them into their new home. To prevent this one from absconding, I plan on putting the queen into a queen catcher (hairclip style) for a couple days, and putting a feeder jar of syrup in the TBH on the other side of the follower board (I drilled a couple of holes near the bottom for access). Think this will work?
Thanks,
Alan
After all this time and work, maybe you should let them get settled in first? Kind of traumatic to do a cutout and without brood them are much more likely to abscond than if you let them get some brood going first.
It is getting a little late in the year, ain't it? They are going to work real at it to build enough comb before winter.
Change of plans! I'm going to put the nuc into a standard hive. That way I don't need to cut the comb and stress them out. I am going to check on a possible honeybee hive behind the sidewall of a swimming pool today. If they are honeys, I will put them into the TBH. Of course, both will get fed to help build up stores for winter.
Sounds like a good plan for this time of year.