National Twinstock

Anyone tried this? Recommend? Avoid? Anyone with useful tips on operating?

Haven't tried the double nuc set up myself but it seems to me a simple matter to make one of these yourself from a flat standard brood box - by routing/table sawing a channel on each sidewall to take a ply divider. Of course the same division would have to be replicated on the floor and crownboard but again not a hard job to do. Thought about doing it myself but would be interested to hear what people think of a twin nuc set up like that.

Gerry

I use a triplestock system.

http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/natsplit.html

By pulling out one or both dividers you can merge the three compartments. Three works better for me than two as there is enough space in each for a decent nuc and it gives you the ability to raise more queens than you may need. There are usually some failures.

I don't need to cut grooves as a well-shaped piece of ply will sit nicely on the flat walls as a vertical divider. All you need is the floor with wooden lathes glued down and a flush crown board that meets the top edge of the plywood dividers.

G.

Hmm, I think we're all a bit busy at this time of year to be adapting brood boxes (and some of us lack the skill!). What are the advantages/disadvantages of the twin/triple stock system over, say, traditional nuc boxes? I imagine shared heat is one 'plus'.

Yes, shared heat and if you put mesh into the floor also the possibility of sharing food across the colonies. You can even overwinter in that way if you wish.

The main advantage is the ease of raising nucs for those without enough nuc boxes and spare brood boxes!

G.

I wonder if another advantage might be that the two nucs would be noisier than just one single nuc, perhaps offputting to potential robbers? If they sound like a large colony rather than just a wee weak nuc, they might be left alone? Has anyone thought of this or is it just a daft notion?

My only gripe with them is that they can be tricky if you want to move the bees on from just one side, e.g. if raising nucs for sale. Shared warmth works well however.

I had a situation a couple of years ago where four of these were made up from a couple of colonies to take mated queens. We had a batch of duff plywood which warped; the division boards on all of them thus curled and opened up so bees were moving freely between the colonies. One had united under one queen, the other three were still running as two connected colonies each with a queen and brood nest, bees moving freely between them. We ran them like this contentedly for a month or so until they were ready to move on.

I expect it helped greatly that the bees either side were from the same source and in a similar state when the unintended access appeared, so that they smelt familiar to each other.