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.

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

“Many roads lead to Rome” when it comes to creating nuclei. Artificial swarms and nuclei 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?

The queens may come from:

one’s own larvae or eggs
one’s own queen cells: Natural bee reproductive methods can also be used by taking advantage of the queen cells of a hive that is about to swarm or has swarmed. This may seem very practical, but it can multiply swarming colonies or colonies of sometimes mediocre quality.
purchasing virgin queens: At a very affordable price, they generally come from the queen rearing of an experienced beekeeper who has carried out selection. But because they will be mated by males from your area, the daughters will not be genetically pure. The main characteristics will nevertheless be preserved, because they come from the queen.
purchasing mated queens: This consists of obtaining mated queens from a breeder whose bees have the qualities one is seeking: disease-resistant, prolific, gentle, hygienic, etc. The advantage of this option compared with the others is, of course, that one can be 98% sure of having bees of a race with the desired qualities.
queen rearing: This is the process of rearing queens from one’s own colonies.

It should be noted that, depending on the method used, the time between setting up the nucleus box and the first worker emergence may range from 3 weeks when introducing a young laying queen to 7 to 8 weeks for a simple split.

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

One can also see that, when introducing a virgin queen, more time is needed before the first egg laying. This time, which we have arbitrarily fixed at 7 days, corresponds to the period required for the young virgin queen’s reproductive organs to develop, for her to carry out her mating flight, and finally for her to prepare for her first egg laying (a further 7 days). This period shown in blue on the graph may vary, especially according to weather conditions.

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

As can be seen, it is by simple division that it takes the longest before a new colony is born. The reason is simple: the bees start from a simple egg or a simple larva under 3 days old in order to create one or more new queens so that their colony can survive.

See also:

► Renewing colonies and queens

1. Nuclei by division without moving

Work procedure:

On a sunny day and between 11:00 and 14:00 move the parent colony about 5 m
place a new hive on the original 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 recent drawn combs
all foragers from the moved parent colony will return to the new hive on the old location and will rear a new queen
first inspection of the young colony after 9 days (number of bees, food, etc.); to avoid swarming and for safety, remove all queen cells in the nucleus except one good one
as soon as there is no more sealed brood (approx. after 24 days), treat the nucleus with oxalic acid (by spraying, by trickling or by evaporation)
in the nucleus (parent colony) with the old queen: check the brood and the food stores

2. Nuclei by division with moving

Work procedure:

without looking for the queen, take 2 - 5 frames from the parent colony with plenty of sealed brood, young brood and eggs, and place them in the new hive between two heavy food frames (if you do not have food frames, the nucleus must be fed immediately with syrup).
check that the parent colony also still contains frames with plenty of young brood and eggs
move the new nucleus box the same day to 3 km from the old location and allow the bees to fly freely (feed the nucleus if necessary)
first inspection of the parent colony and the nucleus after 9 days (number of bees, food, etc.). The queen may be in the parent colony or in the nucleus. If the queen is present, there is egg laying. If the queen is not present, for safety remove all queen cells in that colony except one in order to avoid swarming. Or remove them all and introduce a mated breeder queen
as soon as there is no more sealed brood (approx. after 24 days), treat the colony with oxalic acid (by spraying, by trickling or by evaporation)
in the colony with the old queen: check the brood and the food stores

3. Nuclei by attraction

Work procedure:

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

4. Brood nuclei

Work procedure:

set aside the frame on which the queen of the colony is located
place 2 - 5 frames with plenty of sealed brood and covered with bees into a new nucleus box between two heavy food frames (if you do not have food frames, the nucleus must be fed immediately with syrup)
add the bees from one brood frame with a brush
return the frame with the queen to the donor colony and fill the empty spaces with foundation frames
move the new nucleus box the same day to 3 km from the old location and allow the bees to fly freely (feed the nucleus if necessary)
first inspection of the young colony after 9 days (number of bees, food, etc.); remove all queen cells in the nucleus and introduce a breeder queen (or, if necessary, let the nucleus rear its own queen)
as soon as there is a queen, feed with 2 to 5 litres of syrup
if the young colony rears its own queen and as soon as there is no more sealed brood (approx. after 24 days), treat the nucleus with oxalic acid (by spraying, by trickling or by evaporation)

5. Nuclei with queen

6. Nuclei with bees from the supers

Work procedure:

mark a breeder queen and place her in an introduction cage
Hang in a new nucleus box at least one pollen frame and one food frame along with 4 sheets of foundation, and suspend the new breeder queen in the centre of the nucleus box.
place a bee escape on the new nucleus box so that the bees can move down but no longer back up if the nucleus box is smaller than the supers, battens must be added underneath the bee escape (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 nucleus box after approx. 24 h remove the supers and close the new colony

move the new nucleus box the same day to 3 km from the old location and allow the bees to fly freely, or place it in a dark and 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 inspection of the new colony after 7 days (queen accepted, number of bees, food, etc.)
treat the nucleus with oxalic acid (by spraying, by trickling or by evaporation)

7. Artificial swarm

Work procedure:

catch the queen of the parent colony and place her in a queen cage
place the cage containing the queen of the parent colony, or a new breeder queen, in a swarm box (or in a nucleus box with foundation frames)
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
give the artificial swarm a little liquid feed immediately
place the swarm in a dark and cool cellar until a homogeneous swarm cluster has formed around the queen cage (one to two nights)
establish it on a nucleus apiary about 3 km away with frames of foundation and release the queen (if the artificial swarm is to be housed on the same site as before, it must be kept in the cellar for at least 4 nights and fed)
first inspection of the new colony after 7 days (queen accepted if a new queen was introduced, number of bees, food, etc.)
treat the nucleus with oxalic acid (by spraying, by trickling or by evaporation)
check the donor colony

8. Natural swarm

The swarming impulse of strong colonies need not be countered; 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 born naturally thanks to the abundance of the spring honey 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 the bees still in flight can join the swarm
in the evening at dusk, close the swarm box and place it in a dark and cool cellar for one or two nights
rehouse the colony the following evening in a hive with foundation frames (place an empty super on the nucleus box, deposit the swarm cluster into the empty super by striking the lid of the swarm box, close with the crown 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 out)
first inspection of the new colony after 7 days (queen present, number of bees, food, queen marking, etc.)
treat the nucleus with oxalic acid (by spraying, by trickling or by evaporation)

Sources:

L'apiculture une fascination, SAR edition, Volume 1 (2014)

Creating new colonies in one’s own apiary, Robert Hummel & Maurice Feltin (2015)

See also :

Author

S. Imboden