# How long can you keep a nuc closed?



## T0ADMAN (Aug 5, 2011)

Also, if I moved them, how long would they have to stay at the new location before I could bring them back and trigger reorientation?


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## bejay (Jan 14, 2005)

would probably open them up and assuming you put enough bees in them should be fine losing some of them.


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

I make up nucs regularly from queen cells and keep them in the same yard they came from. You will lose some bees back to the parent hive. If you made up the nucs properly it isn't all that much of a big deal. You mentioned a frame of stores and for the sake of this post I'll assume that is both honey and pollen - the bees need both.

The primary bees that go into a nuc are the nurse bees on the brood frames you gave to the nuc. Nurse bees have yet to start working outside the hive and thus haven't oriented on a particular location yet. 

What you are likely to loose are any foragers or field force that was added to the nuc. This is one reason for making sure there is both honey and pollen in the nuc as the nuc won't have a sufficient working field force to gather nutrition from outside the colony. The current nurse bees will age into this role as the nuc gains in population. (No honey or pollen, feed!)

So I don't think orienting and reorienting are all that big a deal for a nuc. Though to answer your question generally three days is enough time - you as a beekeeper will want to do something like place brush in front of the hive entrance to help force reorientation.

Let 'em fly.


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

When you are making up nucs, the idea is for the bees to stay with the frames you transfer, but obviously that's not going to happen if you keep the nuc in the same yard. You want the foragers to stay so they can continue to forage for the nuc, if all or most of them go back then you will have a delay in getting new foragers until some of the brood emerges which enables the current nurse bees to become foragers. That being said, the only way to keep the foragers from leaving is to move them 2-3 miles away. You can leave a nuc screened up for quite a few days, I've gone as long as 5-6 days with no problem as long as they are in the shade or basement and kept cool, the dark of a basement would be best if you want to move them there. 

IMO, there is no such thing as the bees reorienting after a few days of confinement in the same yard. I have seen lots of them go back to their original location when I have moved hives to a new location in the same yard in early winter when they couldn't fly anymore because of the cold, and on the first nice day a couple months later, hundreds would go back to the old spot, proof that it doesn't work. Long distance is the best. John


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## southfork (Apr 24, 2013)

I cut a few small tree branches and stick them in the ground in front of and blocking the hive. They'll orient and once the leaves dry up and fall off I pull the sticks. You just need to make them stop and think for a min. I've even used a board across the front making them turn 90° out the side but the self removing leaves to me are easier.


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## T0ADMAN (Aug 5, 2011)

Thanks for the quick answers. I'm still curious to hear more. That's amazing how long you can keep them closed up. I bet they're not happy about it, though. 

I did get in touch with the folks a few miles away, and as I expected, they were perfectly happy to have a few nucs hang out for a few weeks. So, I moved them 3 miles this morning. That should keep the bees with the nucs. And hopefully some of the foragers will continue to bring pollen and honey even though they already have both. 

I'm also still curious how long you need to leave a hive in a new location before you bring them back. Is a day enough? I'm sure a week is better.


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## southfork (Apr 24, 2013)

3 miles for 3 weeks if you move


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## Robbin (May 26, 2013)

Andrew Dewey said:


> I make up nucs regularly from queen cells and keep them in the same yard they came from. .


Hi Andrew, How many frames do you use to start your nucs with?


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

Robbin said:


> Hi Andrew, How many frames do you use to start your nucs with?


Generally 2 brood, 1 with some honey and room for brood, 1 with some pollen and room for brood, 1 foundation or drawn yet empty. My boxes are 5 frame - I'd do 4 if I had them. I may have to get my table saw busy!


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

When doing a split it really does not mater weather you move the nuc box or not. as Andrew said the house bees will remain with the Nuc Box and become foragers, However, if you want to keep an active forager complement with the Nuc Box, it must be moved. You can do all sorts of things to try to reorient the bees but as they return to the bee yard engrained instinct will override their recent orientation as long as their original hive is in its original location. 

Think of it this way. you live in then same location, and work at the same place for years. then you move. the day after you move you leave work and drive to your old house out of instinct. If your wife and children are there and let you in, you most likely will stay. that is how it works for bees. 
Don't believe it? take a hive and move it 10 feet at night when all the bees are in it. put branches in front of the entrance, turn it sideways. do whatever you want. at the time place an empty hive in its original location. by the end of the day all the foragers will be in the empty hive except those who took their first flight that day. 
Now it is not necessary to leave the new hive away from the original location for 3 week waiting for all the old foragers to die because bees do not have a collective memory so the most recent ingrained pattern becomes instinctual. usually 3 to 5 days is sufficient .


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Currently they are only 100 yards from the hive.

They have already returned. It only took them a couple of hours...


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

Michael Bush said:


> >Currently they are only 100 yards from the hive.
> 
> They have already returned. It only took them a couple of hours...


LOL, this is the best answer overall. John


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Well... maybe not if they are still confined...


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## T0ADMAN (Aug 5, 2011)

Michael Bush said:


> Well... maybe not if they are still confined...


They were confined, so I'm sure that did not return


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