I am looking to convert all my sups to medium frames. I can get 5 frame Nuc equipment that is medium size as well. If I setup a medium nuc and want to do a swarm split - queen and couple of frames of brood and honey - do I need to do anything different since I will be using mediums instead of deeps?
i would go with more than 5 frames. See what Michael Bush does: i think he uses a whole 10 frames medium hive body as a nuc equivalent. When you split you just pick up one of the x mediums that form your hive and create a split.
I believe MB only uses 8 frame equipment
Yes you are right, that fact slipped my mind. So his nucs are medium 8 frames.
Quote from: Tigerfansga on April 20, 2011, 10:22:20 PM
do I need to do anything different since I will be using mediums instead of deeps?
A five frame medium is large enough to do a split, but you will have to watch it closely since the bees will outgrow the space quickly. You will want to add a second 5 frame medium nuc box as soon as the first box has 4 full frames.
For comparison, a 5 frame medium has the same space as 3 deep frames, so you can see that's a pretty small split.
I like strong splits if I'm trying to make increase, like 16 medium frames of bees brood and honey...
In this case, I'm not trying for an increase, but only trying to prevent a full swarm with a fake one.
Heading off a swarm if they made up their mind to swarm, usually requires removing more than just a couple of frames of brood and the queen.
How many frames? Right now, this hive has a deep and a medium with brood, honey and pollen. The medium is just about full and deep I did not look at this last time, but they had it about 1/2 to 3/4 full from memory (I don't have my log book with me at the moment) full with mostly stores and some brood/larvae. I added honey sups before taking a vacation so they would have plenty room, and they had not started filling them when I last inspected.
At this point, I'm not really sure what to do. My equipment is all 10 frame equipment. I am wanting to go mediums only, but my total investment in 10 frame pieces is too much to throw it all away for 8 frame equipment. Plus I have a local supplier that only carries 10 frame equipment.
You can take the entire medium off and use it for a split. Add another to replace that one and make room.