We had some follow up questions from our July meeting that Matt 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: If you are banking queens in a nuc...  If you are going to introduce just the queen, I would cage her and introduce her with candy.  Then let the nuc raise a new one or introduce a ripe cell.  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.  We usually install nucs in the top box.  In order to conserve her weight, We move honey into the bottom box and pull light comb out of the bottom box.  

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

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

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

A: Waiting a day before introducing a queen is a great idea.  I seldom do it that way.  Again its a time thing, and a location thing.  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.  If its in my backyard, I might wait a day.  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.  If it has been more than a day or two, they will have started cells.  It is important to remove anything they have started to give the new queen the best chance.  

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

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.  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.  (easier to see than explain)