Nuc Transport Concerns

[Steve M.]

Hello,

I am picking up my first nuc early Saturday morning.  The apiary wants nucs picked up between 7am and 9am.  I am planning on getting there as close to 7am as possible...it is a 3 1/2 hour drive from here.  My plan is to have them back to my place by noon.  This may be an idiotic question, but will the bees fare well enough during that 3 1/2 hours back up to Maine?  I imagine by noon they will be wanting to fly.  Are there any special provisions I should make for them when I get them home, or should I just let them loose?  I am not planning on hiving them until that evening....is this the wise approach?  Also, when i get them hived, do I have to worry about a feeder, or should there be enough between what's in the nuc, and what is available around my place?

Thanks in advanced.
--Steve

[Shizzell]

If you have time, I keep them closed and then during the night, I take out the entrance blockers. This gives them time to adjust and figure out where they are situated at, so every bee is starting in a new place.

You have to figure out if they need feeds of stores or not, I'm not sure how much they have in there at the moment. I would bring the feeder just in case. I'm not sure what all is blooming out there.

I would give it a good week before they fully adjust and can be more independant.

Jake

[indypartridge]

will the bees fare well enough during that 3 1/2 hours back up to Maine?

They'll be fine. You, however, will be giddy with excitement about finally having bees!

..should I just let them loose?  I am not planning on hiving them until that evening....is this the wise approach?

It's a common approach, but I don't think it really makes that much difference. I'd probably hive them when I got home.

do I have to worry about a feeder, or should there be enough between what's in the nuc, and what is available around my place?

I'd definitely put a feeder on. Give them every opportunity to be busy drawing comb. If the weather is great and they don't take the feed - fine. But if there's a couple of cool/rainy days, they can work the feeder.

[KONASDAD]

Transporting them is easy. Ther first time i did it, I was listening tio Live led Zeppelin by the time I got home, the bees didn't mind. I placed them where I wanted and removed crok opening. Transferred to deep a few days later. That way they had a chance to get around and I could see the shape of their brood area. Your might not be full, and it might be premature to expand them to a deep immediately. If you expand to quickly, you wont have enough bees to fill box, chancing some health issues.

[Robo]

Just make sure the nuc has plenty of ventilation, so they don't overheat.  Screened tops work great.   

[Steve M.]

Thank you for all the information.  I can already see that this forum is a wealth of information.

It looks like the weather is going to be a bit chilly this weekend with rain Saturday night and Sunday night, but with sun during the day.  I will see how they are doing on Sunday, and perhaps transfer them then, or on Monday.  The end of next week looks like quite a bit of rain, so I will make sure I put the feeder on.

Thanks again.

[rossman_2000]

Are you picking them up from Merrimack Valley Apiaries?  If so, I may see you there.  I'm planning on getting there around 8:00.

I also have a 3-hour drive each way.  They recommended that I should bring a light bed-sheet to throw over the nuc while transporting them home so that there is less chance of bees flying around the car.

I plan on placing the nuc in the location of my hive and leaving it there for a day or two so that the bees can settle down before I transfer them.

Good Luck!

-Jason

[Steve M.]

Jason,

Yes, that is where I am picking up.  Going to try to hit as close to 7am as possible.  When I called to confirm, they mentioned that they would bag the nuc if I was planning to transport in the car, but recommended a sheet as well.

Where abouts are you coming from?  Sounds like you will have as early a day as I will.

My parents always wanted to get into beekeeping, and expressed an interest in going down with me.  If they do, I will try to borrow their truck so I can put the nuc in the back...the truck has a cap, so I think the bees would fare well, and wouldn't have to worry about bees escaping in the vehicle.

Sounds like you have pretty much the same game plan as I do.  Hope to see you there.

--Steve

[BMAC]

Steve I think the ventilation will be critical.  You can screen off the front so they dont come in the car and well as stapling some screen to replace their lid.  I have never run bees for 3.5 hours in a trunk before.  The longest time they had was 1.5 hours.  They were everywhere in the trunk by that time.  I didnt mind, but the bees got too comfortable in there after a little while.

Also I agree.  Hive them as soon as you get home.  They will not know where home is anyway and just accept the new box you put them in. 

[rossman_2000]

I'm coming from Gorham, NH.   Mapquest says that it will take me 3-h 15-m to get there.  Hopefully I can make it a little faster than that.

It will be a long trip to pick up bees, but there aren't many other places that are closer for me.

The weather has been great up here for the last couple of weeks, but last night is was below freezing and it snowed a little.  Hopefully this weekend will warm up a little.

-Jason

[rossman_2000]

I picked up my nucs at 8:00 yesterday morning. 

The place that I picked them up seemed to be just a pit-stop for the bees.  They had hundreds of hives that had just arrived from California for the almond pollination.  (Keep in mind that this was in northern Massachusetts.)  The people there said that the bees were on their way to New Hampshire, then to Maine, then to NY state for more pollination services.  They also had hundreds of nucs that had just arrived from Louisiana.

My 2 nucs were closed with screens at the entrance.  They were both placed inside mesh onion bags.  I placed a white sheet over them once I got them in the car.  Even with all of that, by the time I got home there were about 2 dozen bees flying around the inside of my car. :shock:  Did I mention that I had more than a 3 hour drive?  Oh well, nobody got stung and we made it with no problems.

It was rainy and never got above 45 F at my house yesterday.  The weather report looks the same for today.  I didn't transfer the nucs into their full sized hives.  I just set them where the hives will be located and opened the entrance a little.  A bunch of bees poured out of the entrance, but once they found out that it was cold and rainy, they went back inside to stay warm and dry.

The weather looks better tomorrow and Tuesday, so I will do my transfer then.

BMAC, how did your day go?

-jason

[rossman_2000]

Sorry, I meant to ask Steve M. how his pick-up day went. 

[Steve M.]

Jason,

We must have just missed by a few minutes.  We picked up ours, and where on our way by 7:45am.  Sounds like you had much more excitement than we did!  We had no loose bees. We put the bees in the back of the truck, and strapped them down so they wouldn't slide around.  The truck has a cap so they rode well for the 3 1/2 hours back up to central Maine.

I probably should have waited to hive them, but the weather report here is cold and rainy through the next few days. All in all everything went well...I have to admit it was nerve wracking, because I have never handled bees.  I didn't really inspect the frames as I put them into the hive, I just did the switch, added new frames, and closed everything down.  A bit later in the day I filled the top feeder with sugar syrup, and let them be.

I went up this morning to check on things....just a visual.  I was surprised to see the occasional bee  doing a orientation flight and zoom off somewhere.  It is currently over-cast and drizzly and only 43 degrees!

I will check more thoroughly in a few days when I can have someone more experienced look with me.
--Steve