It appears that rearing queens triggers the expectant mom renovation urge in me!
This time I have modified some medium boxes into nucs!
First I took a screen bottom board and added a center divider so that the bees in each nuc can’t reach the other. I also made up some entrance reducers with two size entrances on each one. One entrance is 1/2 inch wide by 5/16th high. This will be the entrance I start with when the nucs are first started and are tiny and queenless. The other entrance is 3/4 inch wide by 5/16th. This is the same as the standard small entrance on a commercial wooden entrance reducer.
Next I cut a medium box in half and fitted another side where the side was missing. I then painted them up!
When I put it all together, I have 4 medium nuc boxes. Each one holds 4 frames. I plan on housing one queen cell in each of two boxes and then I’m hoping each nuc will expand to a second box. Then I will be able to stack them and winter them side by side:
That looks so cheerful! Clever, Liz.
Amazing, Liz. I’m kinda the slacker in the group, ’cause I only have one nuc available. Between us all, what is our capacity? How many queens can we raise?
I think we counted 13. My limit is really the brood, stores, and comb necessary to set them up. I’m starting fresh from nuc’s this year and don’t want to hit them too hard.
I have a similar concern. I have been into my hives too much and rearranging/removing frames, usually stealing the most valuable assets. I overwintered with just one hive/queen and she swarmed and I think was superseded. Therefore all my other queens were developed this year which means down time in each hive. This is good for varroa control, but not so good for honey production. Hopefully, there is still plenty of time to build these hives up for the winter. But I am pretty short on brood right now.