BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER > EQUIPMENT USAGE, EXPERIMENTATION, HIVE PLANS, CONSTRUCTION TIPS AND TOOLS
Bushkill 4-way Mating Nuc
Robo:
Since the demand for my feral stock queens has taken off, I have decided to expand production a bit. Here are some new 2 frame mating nucs I just finished. I can make 4 boxes (16 nucs) from one sheet of 3/4" ply, one 1x8x8, and less than a sheet of luan. Plus a bunch of coroplast election signs and aluminum flashing. These babies should last for years :) The way things are going, I'll be building plenty more this winter.
Complete plans can be found here -> http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/beekeeping/downloads/
Frantz:
OH yea, those are awesome, thanks for the pics. Do you have an explanation of how you use those mating nucs on your site? I get the basic idea, but could certainly use a couple of pages of explanation. As I said before, nobody here is selling nucs or queens that I can find. I would like to approach that for next spring. Those look really good. What is the small hole at the bottom for I see only one. It looks like you have a top entrance and a vent hole that is screened, and then a little tiny hole at the bottome as well? Just wondered what that one is for.
F
poka-bee:
Hmmm, how interesting. I had a thought..shhhh, don't tell anyone! 8-) They don't look all that hard to do..thinking ahead to next year. Not handy about building but can Micky mouse...maneuvering a full size piece of plywood & power tools is too much of a challenge by myself BUT may be able to use regular supers, divide & just have to cut the pieces for the inner covers? So you used the plastic stuff they make signs out of for dividers? We will have tons free to choose from soon!!..will have to see how the new bees differ..red or blue! :evil: Jody
Brian D. Bray:
The only difference I would have made is the location of the entrances. I would have one on each end and one on easch side so the queen could orientate on a single opening. I did notice though that you put entrances on both ends so you can block or open a entrance depending on what you wanted to do.
Robo:
--- Quote from: Brian D. Bray on July 07, 2008, 01:30:38 pm ---The only difference I would have made is the location of the entrances. I would have one on each end and one on easch side so the queen could orientate on a single opening.
--- End quote ---
The entrances are on each side and at the bottom. The 2 center nucs enter on opposite sides and the outer 2 nucs enter on the other sides. If you look close at the last picture you can see the center 2 entrances. The top holes are screened vent holes. They do an amazing job of deceiving robbers, which is a big problem here in the Fall after the flow.
--- Quote from: Frantz ---Do you have an explanation of how you use those mating nucs on your site?
--- End quote ---
They are used just like any other mating nuc. The cells are placed in the nuc a couple of days before hatching, checked a few days after hatch date, and then in 2 weeks for mated queens.
--- Quote from: poka-bee ---So you used the plastic stuff they make signs out of for dividers?
--- End quote ---
yup, I use a lot of coroplast in my beekeeping. Makes great starter strips too.
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,16357.msg118739.html#msg118739
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