Mini Nuc Question

[Beeboy01]

I have a question about feeding mini nucs. This week I pulled some swarm cells out of my hives and moved them over to nuc boxes. The setup in the nuc box is one frame of brood with the Q cell on it, a second frame of mixed brood and honey and a third frame of drawn foundation.

 I was short on equipment which is why I only used three frames per nuc . The nucs are in the same yard the donor hives are and moving them is not an option. With drifting back to the donor hives I only expect a few hundred bees to stay in the nucs till the brood starts hatching and I'm concerned that if I start feeding them too soon I'll promote robbing in the yard.

 Should I wait till the queen cell hatches before feeding or should I plan on feeding now or in the near future.

I know it's not a recommended way to split out Q cells but at the time and with the equipment available it was the best I could do.  Once the donor hives recover I'll pull some more brood frames and move them over to the nucs.

Thanks   

[Robo]

Hard to tell by your post,  but are you referring to a 5-frame nuc with 3 full sized frames as a "mini nuc".   Or do you mean a "real" mini nuc with 4x4 frames???

[Beeboy01]

They are five frame full size nuc boxes with only three frames in them. Sorry about the confusion, I totally forgot that there are smaller real mini nucs out there.

[Robo]

If it were me,  assuming the second frame is honey and not nectar I would just pour some sugar syrup into the drawn comb.   I would also recommend reducing the entrance down to 1 bee width.    It is easier to prevent robbing than try and stop it once it starts.

[Beeboy01]

I have already reduced the entrances down to one inch so that's been taken care of. I use mason jars in holes through the inner covers for feeding. For the nucs I'll only poke one or two holes in the lids so the hive doesn't get flooded with syrup. Been trying to work around heavy afternoon thunderstorms for the last few days.

[Ben Framed]

Another idea, because of the concern of SHB this time of year, might be to use the two frames of brood and honey, waiting until the queens hatch before placing the empty drawn out frames in the boxes. This will allow the inprogress hatching new nurse bees leaving empty cells for the new queen to lay, while adding numerical power to the hive itself as they hatch. Once the queen hatche and you see new eggs, might be a better time to introduce the empty frame. You will have more bees to guard that empty from the SHB as the newly hatching bees are taking their place in the order of the new hive, affording more power and chance of survival. This is a harder time of year for splits, (at least in my zone because of dearth and SHB), though I encourage you to do so. Be careful, good luck to you. 

[van from Arkansas]

BEEBOY, you are correct to be concerned with robbing this time of year.  If you decide to feed via the hole in the lid, be careful not to spill, not one drop, nor add scent such as lemongrass oil.

During a dearth, now, I always move the original hive when making splits or for certain there will be passive* robbing from the original mother hive.  I just made 5 queenless splits for queen rearing.  Started with double deep 10 frames for a total of 20 frames.  I left an empty spot where the original hive was.  Now, there is no original hive.  One of the splits was robbed but I still have 4 healthy queenless splits with grafted larva in each.

* passive robbing occurs to a local split that is robbed by the original mother hive.  The bees in the new split do not fight nor try to defend as the split bee recognize their sisters and will not fight bees from the mother hive.  The word passive: meaning accepting in this case.

[Beeboy01]

Van, haven't heard the term passive robbing but it does make a lot of sense when thought about. I have installed the feeders on the nucs but replaced the lids on the mason jars with ones that only have a single hole punched in it to reduce any spilling. SHB's are a problem around here this year also but I'll take a chance with them. Going to give them around two weeks before deciding if it's working.

[van from Arkansas]

Thanks BeeBoy, the term PASSIVE robbing is a term I use to describe as mentioned in previous above post. I have not heard the term applied previously.  That is why I explain in detail above.  I learned the hard way to move the mother hive.

For small hive beetle consider a can of freeze spray available on amazon or any office supply store.  Comes with a spray tip like wd-40 and is minus 62F at the tip.  Instantly freezes a beetle while not harming a bee one inch away.  Non toxic, non flammable used in docs office to freeze warts and in the chip Mfg to blow off dust.  When a beetle runs and tries to hide in the bottom of a waxed cell, that beetle is a goner using freeze spray.  The entire beetle is frozen hard as a rock, then frost over as moisture comes in contact.

[Oldbeavo]

If you have put 3 frames in a 5 frame nuc then you could add a piece of polystyrene about 60-70mm or pieces of equivalent to take up the space of 2 frames. Less room for the bees to keep warm.
If you do these splits and leave them in the same yard, then I would shake extra nurse bees from open brood frames into the nuc as the nurse bees have not been out and will stay with the nuc.

[cao]

I make up nucs in the spring with as little as 2 medium frames.  I do shake in extra nurse bees.  I typically don't feed if there is enough nectar in the combs.  This time of year you probably will need to feed.  I would use straight sugar water as thick as you can make it.