Creation of young colonies (nuclei)

Why multiply colonies? This may be done to increase stock numbers, renew colonies, benefit from the vigour of young queens, select preferred colonies, and so on. In nature, bees have three methods of reproduction: swarming (the natural reproduction of bees), requeening (replacement of a deficient or ageing queen), and emergency queen rearing (loss of the queen). Beekeepers also have various methods at their disposal to artificially multiply their stock; these procedures are more or less complex and range from simple division to queen rearing by grafting (picking). The objective, for both the bee and the beekeeper, is to produce a queen so that she can establish a new colony.

Nucleus colonies are the backbone of successful beekeeping. They often develop very well in their second year, show little tendency to swarm, and yield above-average honey crops. In addition, creating nucleus colonies makes rigorous selection possible: weak colonies are continuously eliminated. ApiService suggests that the average proportion of young colonies should be 50%. A beekeeper with 10 production colonies will create 5–7 nucleus colonies. The best time to create nucleus colonies is from May to June/July (depending on the region).

“Many roads lead to Rome” when it comes to creating nucleus colonies. Artificial swarms and nucleus colonies can be created in various ways. The following methods are explained below:

Before starting, two questions must be asked ?

Where does the queen come from?
How much time do I have available before the first worker bees emerge?

Queens can come from:

your own larvae or eggs
your own queen cells: You can also take advantage of bees’ natural reproductive methods by using queen cells from a hive that wants to swarm or has swarmed. This may seem very convenient, but it can multiply swarm-prone colonies or colonies of sometimes mediocre quality.
purchasing virgin queens: At a very affordable price, they most often come from a queen-breeding operation run by an experienced beekeeper who has carried out selection. But since they will be mated by males from your area, the daughters will not be genetically pure. The main traits will be retained, however, because they come from the queen.
purchasing mated queens: This means obtaining mated queens from a breeder who has bees with the qualities you want: disease-resistant, prolific, gentle, hygienic, etc.. The advantage of this option compared with the others is, of course, that one can be 98% certain of having pure-bred bees with the hoped-for qualities.
queen rearing: This is the process of using queen rearing based on your own colonies.

It should be noted that, depending on the method used, the time between setting up the nuc box and the first worker emergences can range from 3 weeks for the introduction of a young laying queen to 7 to 8 weeks for a simple split.

In the graph above, we see that introducing a mated queen is the fastest method for creating a new colony (provided that the queen is accepted, of course). From the moment she is accepted, or in the days that follow, the young queen will start laying (light green in the graph).

We also see that when introducing a virgin queen, more time is needed until the first laying. This time, which we have arbitrarily set at 7 days, corresponds to the time needed for the young virgin queen’s reproductive organs to develop, for her to carry out her mating flight, and finally the time she needs to prepare her first laying (an additional 7 days). This time span, shown in blue on the graph, can vary, especially depending on weather conditions.

The same applies to introducing queen cells. The emergence of the new queens obviously depends on the age of the cells introduced. In the graph, we chose 2 days before emergence, but it is clear that this time may be longer or shorter depending on the age of the queen cells.

As we can see, a simple split requires the longest time before a new colony is established. The reason is simple: the bees start from a single egg or a single larva less than 3 days old to raise one or more new queens so that their colony can survive.

see also:

► Renew colonies and queens

1. Nucleus colonies by splitting without moving

Work procedure:

On a sunny day and between 11h00 and 14h00, move the mother colony about 5 m
place a new hive on the old location
place in the new hive two frames of young brood and eggs as well as two food frames (without the bees, but in any case without the queen)
add about 5 frames of foundation or recently built comb
all foraging bees from the moved mother colony will return to the new hive at the old location and will rear a new queen
first check after 9 days of the young colony (number of bees, food etc.), to avoid swarming and, as a precaution, remove in the nucleus colony all queen cells except one good one
as soon as there is no more capped brood (approx. after 24 days), treat the nucleus colony with oxalic acid (by spraying, by dribbling or by evaporation)
in the nucleus colony (mother colony) with the old queen: check the brood and the food reserve

2. Nucleus colonies by splitting with moving

Work procedure:

without searching for the queen, take 2–5 frames from the mother colony with a lot of capped brood and place them together with young brood and eggs (eggs) in the new hive between two very heavy food frames (if you do not have food frames, you must feed the nucleus colony immediately with syrup).
check that the mother colony also still has frames with plenty of young brood and eggs
move the new nuc box the same day to 3 km from the old location and allow the bees to fly freely (feed the nucleus colony if necessary)
first check of the mother colony and the nucleus colony after 9 days (number of bees, food etc.). The queen may be in the mother colony or in the nucleus colony. If the queen is present, there is egg laying. If the queen is not present, as a precaution, remove in this colony all queen cells except one to prevent swarming. Or remove all and introduce a mated breeding queen
as soon as there is no more capped brood (approx. after 24 days), treat the colony with oxalic acid (by spraying, by dribbling or by evaporation)
in the colony with the old queen: check the brood and the food reserve

3. Nucleus colonies by attraction

Work procedure:

take 2–5 brood frames with a lot of capped brood from one or more colonies, but without the bees
the empty space in the donor colony is filled with frames of foundation
place a queen excluder and two supers (or a brood box) on the donor colony or on another colony with many bees (strong colony)
hang the brood frames taken without bees between two or three food frames in these two supers (if you do not have food frames, you must feed the nucleus colony immediately with syrup)
after two hours or the next day, the frames can be transferred from the two supers into a nuc box
move the new nuc box the same day to 3 km from the old location and allow the bees to fly freely (feed the nucleus colony if necessary)
first check after 9 days of the young colony (number of bees, food, etc.), to avoid swarming and, as a precaution, remove in the nucleus colony all queen cells except one good one
as soon as there is no more capped brood (approx. after 24 days), treat the nucleus colony with oxalic acid (by spraying, by dribbling or by evaporation)

4. Brood nucleus colonies

Work procedure:

set aside the frame on which the queen is located
place 2–5 frames with a lot of capped brood covered with bees into a new nuc box between two heavy food frames (if you do not have food frames, you must feed the nucleus colony immediately with syrup)
add bees with a brush from a brood frame
put the frame on which the queen is located back into the donor colony and fill empty spaces with frames of foundation
move the new nuc box the same day to 3 km from the old location and allow the bees to fly freely (feed the nucleus colony if necessary)
first check after 9 days of the young colony (number of bees, food, etc.), remove all queen cells in the nucleus colony and introduce a breeding queen (or, if necessary, allow the nucleus colony to raise its own queen)
from the moment there is a queen, feed with 2 to 5 litres of syrup
if the young colony raises its own queen and as soon as there is no more capped brood (approx. after 24 days), treat the nucleus colony with oxalic acid (by spraying, by dribbling or by evaporation)

5. Nucleus colonies with queen

6. Nucleus colonies with bees from supers

Work procedure:

Mark and cage a breeding queen in a queen cage
Introduce 6 frames of foundation into a new nuc box and suspend the new breeding queen in the middle of the nuc box
place a bee escape on the new nuc box so that bees can go down and not return up if the nuc box is smaller than the supers, add strips underneath the bee escapes (see image).
place 2–3 supers (1 to 2 kg of bees) on the bee escape attracted by the queen’s pheromones, the bees will move down into the nuc box after approx. 24 h remove the supers and close the new colony

move the new nuc box the same day to 3 km from the old location and allow the bees to fly freely, or place it in a dark, cool cellar for 2 nights, then install it in the apiary on the evening of the third day and allow the bees to fly
feed immediately with syrup
first check after 7 days of the new colony (queen accepted, number of bees, food, etc.)
treat the nucleus colony with oxalic acid (by spraying, by dribbling or by evaporation)

7. Artificial swarm

Work procedure:

capture the queen of the mother colony and place her in a queen cage
place the cage with the mother-colony queen or a new breeding queen in a swarm box (or in a nuc box with frames of foundation)
take 1 to 2 kg of bees from the colony (or from several colonies) but without the queen and brush them into the swarm box
immediately give a little liquid feed to the artificial swarm
place the swarm in a dark, cool cellar until a homogeneous swarm cluster has formed around the queen cage (one to two nights)
place it at a young-colony site about 3 km away with frames of foundation and release the queen (if the artificial swarm is to be housed at the same site as before, it must be kept in the cellar for at least 4 nights and fed)
first check after 7 days of the new colony (queen accepted if a new queen was introduced, number of bees, food etc.)
treat the nucleus colony with oxalic acid (by spraying, by dribbling or by evaporation)
check the donor colony

8. Natural swarm

The swarming instinct of strong colonies may not always be counteracted, but it can be used advantageously for the natural multiplication of healthy colonies. Strong colonies ready to swarm usually produce queens of excellent quality, because they are produced naturally thanks to the abundance of the spring nectar flow.

Work procedure:

spray water onto the swarm cluster
shake or brush the cluster into a swarm box
place the swarm box on the ground nearby (if possible in the shade)

leave an opening so that bees still in flight can join the swarm
in the evening at dusk, close the swarm box and place it for one or two nights in a dark, cool cellar
rehouse the colony the following evening in a hive with frames of foundation (place an empty super on the nuc box, deposit the swarm cluster into the empty super by tapping the lid of the swarm box, close with the cover board, remove the empty super the next day)
on the evening of the second day after rehousing, the swarm will be fed (3 to 8 litres of syrup, until all frames are built)
first check after 7 days of the new colony (queen accepted, number of bees, food, queen marking etc.)
treat the nucleus colony with oxalic acid (by spraying, by dribbling or by evaporation)

see also:

► Understanding swarming

► Formation of young colonies, apiservice

Sources:

Beekeeping – a fascination, Edition SAR, Volume 1 (2014)

Creating new colonies in your apiary, Robert Hummel & Maurice Feltin (2015)

See also :

Author

S. Imboden