Nurse or Nursery Bees

[Tucker1]

Every once in awhile you'll come across a statement in a book or someone will make a statement about making sure you have enough nurse bees to cover ..............(This usually has to do with moving brood to another hive to make a split.)

So how do you recognize nurse bees?  (Please, no remarks about their wearing little white hats, etc.)

How can you separate them from other non-nurse bees?

I know this is asking for a wise remark, but I really do want to know how you can recognize them.

Regards,
Tucker1

[SlickMick]

Not being the one to let such a question go without a wise crack, they are the ones nursing the little babies. :-D :-D

There you go, now there is no reason for other beeks to respond to your question

Mick

[bee-nuts]

tucker

IF you could visually tell a nurse be from a filed bee then what would you do.  Pick them one by one.  The only way you could have an idea is that nurse bees are young so they will probably have more hair and there wings would be in better shape.  Some strains may be brighter and get darker when older.

If you need nurse bees you will use the idea that they will be on frames with eggs and larva because that is where the nurse bees need to be to nurse.  so if you need nurse bees you would take frames of open brood with bees attached.

One way you can make sure you have enough nurse bees when making a nuc and making sure you know where the queen is, is to take two frames of brood, one honey and one pollen and shake most bees of them so you can visually make sure the queen is not on them.  You put these frames in a empty box set aside of hive and put a empty frame in between the brood frames and leave a little extra space for more bees to fit.  Put a queen excluder on hive and put the empty box with the brood frames you know don't have the queen and place on top of the excluder.  come back in and hour or two and many nurse bees will have come up to care for the brood.  Wala, you have a box with lots of nurse bees to put in a five frame nuc.  Leave queenless over night and introduce new queen or queen cell or let them make there own queen from brood frames.

[RayMarler]

Hiya Tucker, how ya doing...

Nurse bees. There are some good uses for queen excluders, one of which is for getting nurse bees. Take a 2 box hive, seperate the boxes with queen excluder making sure queen is below in the bottom box. Have a few frames of open larva that needs feeding in the top box with a frame or two of sealed brood and the rest frames of open nectar and pollen. Come back the next day and the top box will be full of mostly nurse bees under 10 days old. This top box can be split off or used as frames for boosting other hives etc.

Another quicker way as if you are in a single visit to an out yard is...
Pull out a frame of open larva covered with bees and give it a light shake over the hive. The older bees will be the ones to fall off first, the younger nurse bees holding on tighter to the frame of brood. Then you can take this frame and with a little more force, shake the remaining bees off into a split you're making or into a hive needing a boost of younger nurse bees, returning the brood frame to it's own hive, or just placing the frame with all bees into a hive needing boost or make a split with it or into a split, etc.

[Cindi]

Hiya Tucker, how ya doing...

Nurse bees. There are some good uses for queen excluders, one of which is for getting nurse bees. Take a 2 box hive, seperate the boxes with queen excluder making sure queen is below in the bottom box. Have a few frames of open larva that needs feeding in the top box with a frame or two of sealed brood and the rest frames of open nectar and pollen. Come back the next day and the top box will be full of mostly nurse bees under 10 days old. This top box can be split off or used as frames for boosting other hives etc.

Another quicker way as if you are in a single visit to an out yard is...
Pull out a frame of open larva covered with bees and give it a light shake over the hive. The older bees will be the ones to fall off first, the younger nurse bees holding on tighter to the frame of brood. Then you can take this frame and with a little more force, shake the remaining bees off into a split you're making or into a hive needing a boost of younger nurse bees, returning the brood frame to it's own hive, or just placing the frame with all bees into a hive needing boost or make a split with it or into a split, etc.

This is excellent, but there is a caution to be given here.

When shaking a frame that has open larvae, in particular, one must be really careful not to shake that frame too hard.  It is very easy to dislodge the larvae and have them fall out of their cell.  I clearly recall a post, think it may have even been Finsky, when he said that he did that and lost most of the larvae from that frame.  Caution when shaking brood frames. 

Something that we were taught about "shaking" bees off a frame.  Hold the frame with one hand and with a very abrupt gesture, that that other hand and knock that hand on the hand holding the frame with bees on it.  Bees dislodge their grip very easily.  As mentioned, house bees don't get dislodged as easily as the field bees.  Just a little of my two cents.  Have that wonderful, most great day, great health.  Cindi

[Tucker1]

Thanks for the great replies. (And wise cracks).  I appreciate the answers to my simple question.