Position of Mating Nucs

[Jon]

In an ideal world you move the apideas a couple of miles from the colonies used to fill them.
I don't usually do this and I find that the critical thing to avoid too many bees returning to the hive of origin is (a) fill the apidea with young bees which have not flown yet and (b) don't open the apidea until the virgin queen has emerged from her cell.

[drumgerry]

My first year of queen rearing I neglected to follow point (a) of Jon's and lost most of the bees in my mininucs to absconding. Total disaster! Subsequent years using bees from supers and therefore hopefully young bees has meant only the odd lot absconding when finally opened. I'm happy to place my apideas in the same apiary as their parent hives but point (a) is critical. Point (b) as well of course Jon!

[Kate Atchley]

Thanks Dark Bee, Jon and drumgerry.

All very helpful. I can source bees for the mini-nucs from different apiaries than those where they'll be placed; can deal with the suggested distances; and will keep the mini-nucs in a dark place, unopened, until the Qs have emerged (2-3 days probably). Does that sounds sensible?

Would you like to hear how I get on?

[Jon]

That 3 days in the dark advice before introducing the cell is unnecessary if you were thinking of doing that.
Fill the apideas and leave them outside in full shade overnight.
Introduce the cells the next day, preferably just one day from queen emergence.
I don't use an incubator and when I graft I put roller cages over the cells on day 9. (3 days from emergence)
The cells are introduced to apideas on day 11 (1 day from emergence)
The odd virgin emerges early but is kept away from destroying the other cells by the roller cage.
If you have a virgin queen, you will have a higher acceptance rate by misting her and tipping her into the apidea through the floor followed by a scoop of wet bees on top of her. Open the apidea in its site 24 hours later.
With introduced cells, check every 24 hours by removing the cell from the entrance hole and only open when the virgin is out of the cell.

[drumgerry]

Sounds like a plan Kate! And this is where the design of Apideas excels. No taking your life in your hands to spray them with water twice a day as with Kielers!

Please keeps us updated Kate. I'd love to hear how you get on.

Gerry

[drumgerry]

I did the 3 day thing last year Jon but it was my first year with Apideas. It did work in that I only lost one lot to absconding but glad to hear it's not strictly necessary.

[Adam]

If you shake in bees to the mini-nucs from the same colony as the queencells come from and at the same time, there's little chance of rejection. Then as post 31.

[Jon]

If you shake in bees to the mini-nucs from the same colony as the queencells come from and at the same time, there's little chance of rejection. Then as post 31.

That's worth noting, especially if you only have a couple of apideas to fill.
If you shake in bees from the cell raiser colony they can take the cells right away as they are their own cells.
No chance of rejection.

[Kate Atchley]

Promised an update and took a look at the 11 mini-nucs which had cells from grafting or Cupkit rearing. News seems encouraging! All present and correct ... no absconding or showing a shortage of bees though there is some variation in the amount of comb they have drawn out. They all had to start from scratch.
EUREKA ... four have eggs! The queens look fine but it's too soon to guage their laying quality. There's no larvae yet so laying has started very recently and the weather pattern suggests others will have had to bide their time to finish mating so I had expected a 'gap' and I hope there are more to follow.
A couple of the mini-colonies were very stroppy which made me think they lack a virgin queen? The rest seemed calm and preparing space for the queen to lay. All were bringing in pollen. I fed more fondant as necessary.
Several, without eggs, had made a queen cup. Is this a sign they too may lack a queen?
How soon do you suggest I move them on to full-sized nucs or to introduce to colonies? I thought I'd probably wait a week or so to see some brood sealed ... yes?

[Jon]

That Denney research I linked to the other day said to wait at least 28 days from emergence before moving queens from mini nucs and 35 days is better. At a minimum wait until brood is sealed so that you can see it is normal worker brood.