Swarm / Split / Mating Nuc Questions.

[Ben Framed]

I have caught a fair amount of swarms this season. I placed these randomly in two of my bee yards. I have noticed that the larger swarms have fared very well and are thriving in both yards. (Some in 5 frame nuc boxes and, four, big bubba swarms, in 10 frame boxes).  However, about three of these caught swarms were small.

I placed the smaller swarms in two frame, mating nuc boxes. I added one comb of drawn out worker brood, and one empty frame.  Whether the queens were mated or not, I do not know, but I do know that all three were thriving and making progress. The queens were laying and capped brood was already present in each box. In each they were gathering nectar, storing in the top of the frame. Though these hives were small, they were doing very well and I was pleased.

The blank frame I placed for expansion as they grew, at their convenience, with the idea when the second frame was build up enough with comb and bees, each group would be transferred to a 5 frame nuc box.  Now these three, side by side, was robbed of their little resources and failed. Should I have placed these smaller ones at least a mile away form the main yard in order to give them a better chance of survival from what was described above? Wouldn't further distancing provided these little colonies a better chance of survival? In the future, wouldn't it be better to place mating nucs further away form the main yards, lowering the chances of robbing of two frame mating nucs? Especially if I place around 20 at a time?

Thanks,
Phillip Hall

[CoolBees]

Yes ... or ... use robbing screens till they grow size and can defend themselves better. Just my thoughts.

[Ben Framed]

Yes ... or ... use robbing screens till they grow size and can defend themselves better. Just my thoughts.

Robbing screens are always good. I did not use this time because of the flow. Assuming the bees were so busy that they would not have time to go nosing around a weaker hive. Boy was I wrong!


Phillip Hall