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Author Topic: building up (small) nucs ON the main flow-- any advice?  (Read 3527 times)

Offline abeeco

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building up (small) nucs ON the main flow-- any advice?
« on: June 06, 2009, 03:47:21 pm »
The very first of the (sea level)  blackberries just started to pop open today, there should be a strong flow (really our only main flow) for 3-4 weeks.

My priority right now is bees, not honey... 

I just started a bunch of 1 1/2 - 2 brood frame splits that I would like to build up as quickly as possible.
Queen cell just hatched... drawn comb in five frame nucs or divided hive bodies.

I realize that this is far from the ideal timing for this, but I am going to be stealing brood and making nucs all summer, so...

I grafted from a brood to the wall wooten's italian queen for this round, because I thought this could help vs the mutt bees I have been raising.  I can requeen later if I have to.   

I realize that the bees natural instinct is to hoard honey like crazy and forget all about expanding the brood nest, so...ANY advice, observations, or tips that you could think of that could be useful are VERY GREATLY APPRECIATED!

Thank You!

Offline justgojumpit

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Re: building up (small) nucs ON the main flow-- any advice?
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2009, 02:39:35 pm »
to help expand the brood nest, you can put an empty frame between two frames of brood.  They should fill it with brood, because it is in the brood nest.

justgojumpit
Keeper of bees and builder of custom beekeeping equipment.

 

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