# Reintegrating mini-nuc brood and bees



## Velbert (Mar 19, 2006)

Tara I don't which Mini nuc you have but I would spray them down before putting them together I have put some together into a 10 frame hive i just put on a queen excluder then put a empty hull slid the bottom off the mini nuc and placed the whole mini nuc inside the shell until the brood hatched out.

But putting them into a frame sound easy enough


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

I winter mine on 8 mini-combs.


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## Tara (Jun 17, 2010)

Velbert,

You've never had an issue with queen acceptance just spraying them?

I took a look at some of the minis up for sale--some seemed WAY too small, and all seemed a bit expensive--and built my own. Two of the mini frames can fit onto one of the mediums I use.










Given about an inch of starter, they did this in about 3 weeks on the 4 frames, waiting for the queen to mature and mate.










But now all the frames appear to be filled with eggs, and she's starting to lay a second set of eggs on top of the first. I know the queen can lay a lot more in a day than her total room here, so I figured it was time to expand. Mike, I know your frames are a lot larger, but I'd still think the queen could fill them all in a small period of time. Does she just hang out for 3 weeks till they've emerged? Wouldn't they try to swarm? 

I'd considered removing the bottom from another mini and putting it on top like a super to let them move up. They're in my garage right now and could winter there if necessary...

Thanks!


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

How do your bees get out to fly? Or can they only forage on the syrup you are feeding them? Do they have free range of your garage? What kind of hives are those?


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## Kingfisher Apiaries (Jan 16, 2010)

I would not use mini nucs if you have SHB. Also, if you are looking for a smaller nuc that uses less bees, make a 1-2 frame deep or a 2-3 frame medium. I am running mostly 3 frame deeps, but I am in it for nuc production. 

Mike


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## Tara (Jun 17, 2010)

sqkcrk- Its a mating nuc. Queens have to have access to outside in order to mate. The first picture was just of where I had them on my kitchen counter the first day or two waiting for the queen to emerge from her cell after I stocked the mini. I kept them confined so they could get a start on drawing comb and to re-establish 'home' for them.

Here's the current setup:


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## Steve10 (Nov 19, 2008)

Tara,

Looks like a fun little system!

Steve


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## Tara (Jun 17, 2010)

Thanks! This is my first year keeping bees, so I'm infernally curious about everything. Mini nucs are relatively expensive, observation hives are WAY expensive, so I decided to combine the two and make my own. Its been pretty awesome watching the bees.


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## KevinR (Apr 30, 2010)

What are those plastic boxes your using?

The look like mini filing cabinets...


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## Tara (Jun 17, 2010)

Lol... Wal Mart, $1.50 each, I think they were called 'storage boxes'. They were all over the place for the 'back to school' sales. The frames are 1 1/4" wide slats shaved off a piece of 2x4 at 1/8" thickness and superglued together. You can make a lot with one 2x4. =) The most expensive part of this was probably the window--if you don't care about gawking at them every few hours, you could probably put the thing together for about $3 or less each.


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## KevinR (Apr 30, 2010)

Yea I thought they had a walmart look to them..

What do you have them lined with? The ones I saw were closer to a full box size, not on the mini-nuc side.

They were hollow and ported, would need to line with wood or foam. I gave the large ones a once over and went on with blending in with the people of walmart..

=P~


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## Tara (Jun 17, 2010)

Insulation--the kind with shiny metallic liner on one side. It cuts way better with a knife than styrofoam, and I think I got a 4x8' sheet for like $8. I've made 6 of the minis and used less than a quarter of it so far.


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