DIY nuc

[Alfred]

I know the gods of beekeeping will smite me upon hitting the submit button but my new nuc appears to be doing ok.
I'm worrying like a new parent obviously but trying my best to leave them alone.
They're in a maisemore polynuc.
I've popped the lid twice this week to check the miller feeder (heavy syrup) and they've had half of it since Monday evening .That's two donor frames and and one from non layer colony .
My wife has told me there's been very few flyers in the last two days-perhaps those frames were light on older bees and what did accompany us all home have since died?
I sneaked a VERY quick peek under the feeder and there is a fair amount of beautifully behaved insects .Not one stopped work on my account.
I instantly spied Queeny near the top of the innermost frame.
I don't want to spook or squish her so I've just shut it down, topped it up and left them alone without lifting the frames.
What do you chaps / chapesseseses think?

[Patrick]

Sounds like they are doing just fine Alfred..

They may not be flying much as they don't need to... all the grub is right there !

[Chrisbarlow]

congrats Alfred. is it a virgin or bought in queen?

nucs are so easy to make up (once you have the knack) and every beekeeper should make them.

[Alfred]

We collected her from Cheltenham so there's time and money invested but I'm more precious around her because her evil stepdaughters didn't instantly shred her and she's had such a calming effect on the little biatches.
Not only that ,she has green body art making her the only one of my queens I've ever managed to actually see.

[AdamD]

If there's food, a queen and bees, they should be fine.
The interest in what's going on in the hive never really ceases, and with a newly installed queen, they should be left alone for the first week or there is a risk of balling of the queen and her consequent death.
It's really good to see a new queen laying, with eggs and small larvae on the frames.

[Alfred]

It was actually surprisingly simple,assuming she's in business.
Which gets me thinking bad thoughts.
I've just got my Six Whole Weeks Experience Certificate in Knucklehead bee-mashing and I can do it then why can't the club official who sold the problem colony.
Grrrr,as they say..

[NigelP]

Get used to it ....they love emphasising "you are a beginner" and I'm an old hand (or w*nker in other words). So you don't what an aggressive hive/ a swarmign hive/ is etc
Really annoys me.

[Patrick]

Nice one Alfred . I think raising nucs is great fun and - as you say -surprisingly easy. It opens up a whole host of options with apiary problems without disrupting other full colonies. Or indeed even having other full colonies if that’s not your wish. More people should do it routinely. Micheal Palmer does some great videos discussing it.

I always get a ridiculous kick out of the first sight of a capped frame of brood from a queen I have had a hand in raising. Really satisfying.

As Nigel says, experience is only of merit if you put it to positive use. Selling aggressive nucs to make a few quid is not that. Long years of experience are often revealed to be many years of doing the same thing. Ask them about something slightly outside that and instead of admitting they haven’t actually done it themselves, you get vague parroted “book wisdom” - which may or may not be applicable or even right.

More positively, its one of the cautions of starting with novel hive types. You rapidly find out others discomfort in advising on hive types they have never personally used - a discomfort I share. I recently encountered a Flow Hive and quickly found myself asking more operational questions than the owner was! Similarly someone who had bought a log hive. You sometimes have to think in the art of the possible...and just admit doing it!

[Alfred]

Words of wisdom Patrick
I've learned more from this forum than the local affiliate.
And you're right they do dodge/deflect direct questions,while doing practical demos on how not to do things...

[Adam Bee]

Slightly off topic, but not much, due to the current drift.

I had quite a few people sceptically curious about my hive as they’d never seen “one sized boxes” or heard about running “all mediums”. A few shrugged and ambled on, but many were curious enough to stop, listen and have a look.

What I found fascinating was how many in the association were simply unaware of any other method of beekeeping beyond nationals,’and how much of the local wisdom was simply oral history passed down from generation to generation.

I’ve read about nationals, and warre, and langstroth, and long top bar hives (Kenyan and Tanzanian), skeps, and have started looking at some of the eastern European versions... all fascinating. I had sort of assumed that everyone else had done as well.