Central Oregon Beekeeping Association - A couple more Q&A's from our July meeting with Matt from Apricot Apiaries

Reply to: A couple more Q&A's from our July meeting with Matt from Apricot Apiaries

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<blockquote>M.M. Lee wrote:

We had some follow up questions from our July meeting that <A href="https://www.facebook.com/ApricotApiaries/" target="_blank">Matt</A> was kind enough to answer:

Q: For those who are using nucs as their “banking method,” when you’re installing the queen/nuc, do you just stick it in, or do you do a hive combination with newspaper etc.?

A:&nbsp;If you are banking queens in a nuc...&nbsp; If you are going to introduce just the queen, I would cage her and introduce her with candy.&nbsp; Then let the nuc raise a new one or introduce a ripe cell.&nbsp; If you are going to introduce the whole queenright unit, brood bees and all, I would just pull enough frames out to accommodate the nuc and drop it in.&nbsp; We usually install nucs in the top box.&nbsp; In order to conserve her weight, We move honey into the bottom box and pull light comb out of the bottom box. &nbsp;

We equalize by moving brood, bees and all.&nbsp; If I am pulling empty comb out to put in a different hive, I shake the bees off before moving it.&nbsp; To clarify, the weak hive need more bees, the strong one doesnt. &nbsp;

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Q: Kind of the same question when equalizing, do you brush bees off of brood, or spray with sugar water, or just stick it in?

A:&nbsp;People worry about this kind of thing alot more than they need to.&nbsp; Brood bees are young and tend to not fight much.&nbsp; Of course, they are bees and things can get weird from time to time.&nbsp; Rarely does a queen get killed.&nbsp; More likely to help than hurt.&nbsp; I am sure there are better ways to do it.&nbsp; For us its a) how I learned to do it and b) for us, time is pretty important.&nbsp; If I had to reach for a sprayer of syrup every time I needed to move some brood, I wouldn't get anything done. &nbsp;

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Q: After you pinch the queen, do you wait a day before introducing the new one, or do you do it right away?

A:&nbsp;Waiting a day before introducing a queen is a great idea.&nbsp; I seldom do it that way.&nbsp; Again its a time thing, and a location thing.&nbsp; If I am in the beeyard and have queens and its 20 miles from home, I am going to requeen before I put the hive back together.&nbsp; If its in my backyard, I might wait a day.&nbsp; If I dont have queens, but Ill have them soon, I’ll mark the hive with a stick or something like it and as soon as I have queens, I’ll go to those beeyards with sticks and finish requeening.&nbsp; If it has been more than a day or two, they will have started cells.&nbsp; It is important to remove anything they have started to give the new queen the best chance. &nbsp;

Thats probably something I couldve clarified.&nbsp; If you are requeening a hive and there are any other queen related things present, it is crucial to remove them.&nbsp; This includes Eggs in cups, queen cells, virgins, mated/laying queens. &nbsp;

And on that note, If I cant find a queen or I suspect there might be a virgin, I will sometimes shake the whole hive through an excluder, frame by frame.&nbsp; If most of the bees have gone through the excluder and I still cant find her, Ill walk a ways away into the bushes and dump the excluder. &nbsp;(easier to see than explain)

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