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Summer nuclei using bees from the honey supers

Good beekeeping practice: At the end of July, the beekeeper removes the honey harvested from the super and prepares the colony for winter (feeding and treatments). The previously large colony that occupied both the brood chamber and the super suddenly becomes cramped once the super is removed, and the old forager bees will disappear in the weeks that follow. A simple method makes it possible to give these bees a second life by creating summer nuclei.

Location: production apiary with honey super
(hereafter referred to as R0)

Date: at the time of removing the supers (until mid-July)

Equipment:

  • A hive scale
  • An empty hive (hereafter referred to as r0) with 5 frames with foundation (with bottom board, feeder, roof, and divider)
  • Hive tool, bee brush, funnel, and perforated board
  • A closed super intended to receive honey frames without bees.

  1. Place r0 without the divider, with the perforated board and funnel, on the side opposite the frames, on the scale. Tare.

  1. Brush the frames of one super from R0 above the queen excluder into the funnel until 1.8 kg of bees is reached.
    The honey frame without bees is placed in the closed super.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. Up to 1.8 kg of bees.

  1. Tap the hive to make the bees fall, then quickly remove the funnel and perforated board and install the feeder and roof.

 

 
  1. Move r0 to the cellar and then provide 1 litre of syrup.
  
  1. Move the super with honey frames to the extraction room.
  
  1. The following morning, introduce a laying queen in her cage through the entrance of r0 and close it again.

  1. One day later, in the evening, move r0 to its winter location in the nucleus apiary (a different site from the production apiary), feed 2–3 litres, and open the hive after nightfall.

 
  1. Two days later, treat with oxalic acid and insert the divider.
  
  1. One week later, check egg laying, reposition the frames, and provide stimulative feeding.

 
  1. Before the end of August, add a 6th frame with foundation.

 

   

Advantages:

  1. No need to use a bee escape
  2. No aggressive bees, as they are quickly confined in r0.
  3. 99.9% acceptance of the new queen.
  4. Very low varroa levels in the nucleus.
  5. No need for a swarm box or transfer.
  6. A second life for bees from the honey super

General method

  1. Two locations: a production apiary and a nucleus apiary
  2. The operation described above is repeated as many times as possible or desired, depending on the available super bees. For example, R0 = 10 hives and the creation of 7 nuclei.
  3. For reference, a Nicod 10-frame hive with bottom board, feeder, and roof, including the 6 frames (12 in a divisible system), costs less than CHF 180, which is less than purchasing a nucleus. Without advertising, this hive is well suited to this operation: light and winters well.
  4. The following spring, inspect the nucleus apiary and identify well-developed nuclei.
  5. Inspect apiary R0 and retain only the hives with the greatest potential; then merge the remainder with the nuclei, resulting in a production apiary of 10 hives, if that number suits the beekeeper.
  6. At the end of May, queen rearing can be carried out by obtaining brood from a breeder-instructor and raising the queens needed by mid-July. Thus either:
    1. Produce F1 queens in the apiary, a simple method
    2. Go to a mating station (with all mating nucs), allowing targeted selection from the best colony the following year
  7. This approach results in colonies with a majority of one-year-old queens and the best two-year-old queens that have survived two winters.

This approach is intended as a guideline and must be adapted to local conditions and individual practice. Cooperation with another beekeeper is entirely possible in order to reduce costs.

See also:

Author
Gilbert Duruz, Past-Président de l’ www.ARAE.name
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