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Author Topic: Warre adapter to allow use of other hive Nucs  (Read 2487 times)

Offline charentejohn

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Warre adapter to allow use of other hive Nucs
« on: August 27, 2020, 05:32:12 am »
I had to fill two Warres but swarms were scarce, well none really, my first year with this.  I wanted local not packages so went for a Nuc swarm.  Being in France these are Dadant frames so it is either shake them in and lose all their stores and brood.  Cut and stick the comb in, messy and disruptive, or a Nuc which has an established colony all at full speed and ready to go.

What I did.
You could just use an old 5 frame Nuc box as a base but I didn?t have one.  As luck would have it they sell 30cm wide x 18mm cheap pine board here (made from lots of small bits) which is perfect as if you rest a Dadant frame on it it leaves bee space below. 
I had some old pallets so broke off some boards and made a frame around the top of my pine board Nuc box to allow bee space above the frames.  You can see it in the photos.
Place the box on top of the Warre box and fix pallet boards over the ends so it can?t move backwards or forwards.  Then line up the adapter slightly offset so the frames line up, you can see it in a photo.  Dadant has 5 frames Warre has 8 bars so 2 on one side and 1 on the other are covered.
Attach thick strips (I used 2x pallet boards) along the sides to cover the Warre and trim off any excess.  That and some metal frame spacers and basic adapter box is done.

Top made from 3mm ply with 20mm XPS foam attached with solvent free silicone. Top cover as in photos.  XPS and ply cut to allow use of a small feeder, not needed with strong Nucs but may be if I ever catch a swarm in one.

These will be on till next year acting as a top Warre box, about 1.25 Warre volume.  They have built into the next Warre box so should be fine early next year.  I did consider removing it sooner but they are happy enough as is.

One thing to consider is a cereal packet gasket as if left for a while they will propolise it solidly.  The ?gasket? covers the connecting surfaces and the Warre bars so when removed I can slide a pallet knife into the sides to split the cardboard, which will be glued to the bars not to the adapter. This should leave the top bars intact so the adapter doesn?t pull them out, I can then clean them up easily.     

Video that started the idea  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAzL_VPGgNs   

Hive adapter photos, from two I made both slighly different but the principle is the same.    https://photos.app.goo.gl/MzUFJw3T9mPsmgva7 
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