# Making plans to overwinter nucs



## IndianaHoney (Jun 5, 2006)

I'm planning to create some nucs in July or August. I have never tried to overwinter a nuc, and I'm not sure what to do. I don't see how a nuc can survive in a northern climate like Indiana's, but I want to try it. This is my plan so far, but its subject to change based on other people's experince.

1. Make or buy some nuc boxes

2. Pick my worst producers in June, and split them into nucs.

3. Give each nuc a Carnie queen cell.

4. When each nuc has a mated, laying queen, give them a second nuc box on top of the first one in order to let them store honey from the fall flow.

5. In Sept, feed all nucs enough to let them store enough feed if needed without them having to use the stores they already have. I don't want them to backfill every frame because I've heard that it leaves them with no place to cluster.

6. Throughout the winter, feed on warm days through a hole in the top cover with a jar feeder on top.

The first goal is to go into fall with bees filling both nuc boxes. The second goal is to get them through winter. Then have them strong enough to be a full production hive in the spring.

Each nuc will be overwintered up against each other at a minimum of 4 nucs. I've heard that each nuc box should have a entrance at the bottom, and a vent hole near the top. They will only be overwintered in places that will provide a wind break.

I need any input I can get from those who have been successful at overwintering nucs in a northern climate.


----------



## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

IndianaHoney said:


> I'm planning to create some nucs in July or August. I have never tried to overwinter a nuc, and I'm not sure what to do. I don't see how a nuc can survive in a northern climate like Indiana's, but I want to try it. This is my plan so far, but its subject to change based on other people's experince.
> 
> 1. Make or buy some nuc boxes
> 
> ...


One of the problems you will have right off the bat from making your nucs in June is swarming. They will swarm on the goldenrod flow if they become over crowded. So one of your manipulations should be to keep these nucs weak until late Aug, and then let them build up to a wintering cluster.

I find a real big problem with using jar feeders on nucs during the winter. The biggest killer of hives in the winter is moisture. By using a jar feeder, you will be adding moisture to the hives when they are least capable of dealing with it. Wet bees are dead bees. Think about using a candy board feeder, or granulated sugar on newspaper inside an empty hive body.

Hives pushed together and either wrapped with tarpaper, or surrounded by insulation board, plus a small bottom entrance, and larger upper entrance will winter better than stand alone hives. You might even consider stacking a second bunch on top of the bottom ones, and wrapping the whole stack. You will need a really good wind break as well.

Some of my thoughts for what it's worth , i'm sure others will be along soon .


----------



## IndianaHoney (Jun 5, 2006)

Great input. I should have been more clear on when I plan to make the nucs. I plan to make them at the very end of June and give them a queen cell. With the queen cell, they would not have a laying queen until mid July. When I overwinter them they will be in two deep five frame nuc boxes. If you've never seen it, its like a two deep hive, but I'm using nuc boxes instead, and they have a total of 10 frames.

What is a candy board? How do you make them?


----------



## Panhandle Bee man (Oct 22, 2003)

*over wintering nucs*

two deep five frame nuc boxes, is overkill, you might as well use a single deep hive body, less costly, and less work. Plus in mid-to-late summer it is difficult to build up nucs into this size.

Best method I have seen is to divide a deep hive body into 2 sections, each section holding 4-5 frames with a screen bottom and having their own entrance (1/2", 3/4" hole). For winter preparation you place the 2 nucs on top of an inner cover on one of your hives, then wrap. 

You don't want/need a large number of bees to do this, just healthy, well fed bees. They may come out of winter with a small number of bees, but will rebound quickly. The nucs will benefit from the heat generated by the hive below them, and wont need to cluster as tightly to stay warm.


----------



## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

This was my first winter in overwintering nucs as a lot of talks with Michael Palmer on this issue. 

I went with 5 frame nucs that was a deep split in half. You want to identafy the weak colonies in mid July and than breake them down to the nucs in either late july or first part of August. If you are giving queen cells, than late July but if you are giving laying queens, than first part of August. Let her lay and them collect nectar. Feed them starting in late August depending on your flows. Feed until mid October. Make fondant and place on in the hive. This acts as your insurance. 

Leave them be. 

I love the method of using a deep broken up into two 5 framers.

Michael Palmer puts those nucs on top of a strong colony but I tried this too and here, we have some sunny days in the winter and the strong colony will rob out the nucs easily. I do not recomend this.

It works nicely...

Just do not over think this like I did .


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Here's a list of my mistakes:

My biggest problem overwintering nucs has been condensation. My first try was over a stronger hive with an inner cover with a double screen on the hole. The moisture from the hive below created huge icicles in the nuc above.

My second try was a bunch of them wrapped. Condensation was a major problem.

My third try was with a heater down the back and a bottom vent in the back and a top entrance on the front:

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesnucs.htm

This worked ok, but it was a mild winter and there were problems with the jars leaking onto the clusters.

This last year I did the same in five medium frame nucs but without the feeders but then someone unplugged the heater and we got 50's F until December followed quite suddenly by -17F. Most of them were rearing brood and they could not handle it. Only one survived.

This next year I'm planning on doing an eight medium frame nucs on top of regular hives with bottom board feeders on both going into the fall and for spring. I don't plan to feed in the winter unless they get really light.

I also may do the heater down the back of one group if I can get enough nucs together.


----------



## Curtis (Jun 25, 2005)

I have a question, If moisture is the main problem...why not put the nuc below the full hive? The air flow from the main hive should help remove the moisture from the nuc. As long as you have a good cluster, there should not be a problem with heat.
Just a thought.
Curtis


----------



## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

"What is a candy board? How do you make them?"


Candy boards mean different things to different people. To me a candy board is a mold that I place sugar that has been moistened enough to be placed in the mold and allowed to dry, which makes a hard block of sugar that is then placed on the hive sugar side down. 

To others it is a mold into which they place a fondant, which is cooked sugar, that is allowed to cool and forms a solid block of sugar which is also placed on the hive sugar side down.


----------



## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

I plan on going into winter with med nucs. A five frame med nuc with a 5 frame med "super" on top. I use migratory covers on my nucs and dado a slot in the cover so that condesation can escape. It works pretty well. 

I didn't have good luck with a one story 5 frame med nuc but did with two stories. I made my nucs up in aug with combines from q-rearing nucs after I sold the queens.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I have a question, If moisture is the main problem...why not put the nuc below the full hive? 

If you're going to put it on the bottom, you may as well put it on it's own stand. It doesn't need more draft, it need less moisture adequate (but not excessive) ventilation and some warmth wouldn't hurt for those -20 F nights we get most winters.


----------



## Brandy (Dec 3, 2005)

*Overwintered Nuc's*

I had pretty good success with the nuc's over the inner cover's & screen of the large hives below. These nuc's were really a strong test of the "system" since they were the last frames from all the mating nuc's, 1 frame queen holdout's and all the extra brood and super frames left before winter with some freshly, lately, mated queens!! Some were made up with 5-6 medium frames, some 5-6 deep frames. I really didn't hold out much hope for these but thought it would be a good test. I did feed syrup above and had some leaking when it got down below 0 and lost one nuc because of it I think. With the extra super above for the feeder I didn't have any condensation problems in the nuc's. This spring they have built up like gangbusters and I would definitely do it again but need to improve with the additional feeding. This past winter was a great test since we had a winter from Heck!! Snow and Cold like never before for months on end. If they made it through that the system has merit!


----------



## bigbee (May 7, 2007)

*Overwinter nucs*

I plan on trying to overwinter nucs for the first time myself, I'm in Georgia where the winters are mild. My question is for the sake of having to make nuc boxes won't it work to put a pair of nucs in a stanard hive body with a screen bottom board so that they can share the heat from each other? I run 9 frame spacers so would they hold over ok with one bring a 5 frame nuc and the other being a 4 frame or would it be best to give them equal space? I think with the nucs sharing the 10 frame box and a screen bottom board with a little vent at the top one's moisture problems would not be much of a concern! 

I welcome all of the pro's and cons to this idea!


----------



## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

bigbee:

Your idea will work. To feed, I would made some fondant as the moisture from the hive will make the fondant easier for the bees to consume. Stay away from syrup as sometimes it does leak. 

Are you using a dividing board? The plastic grain bags from feed stores make gret inner covers. I used these last year. I would recomend that you staple the plastic feed bag to the dividing board so each nuc has its own flap. We had a bad wind storm here and it blew up one cover and the colony combined. 

I really enjoyed overwintering the nucs. It worked out great.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Making nucs from your worst hives will give you poor splits.

When I take my colonies south for the winter the poorest ones are the ones that don't survive.

Make your nucs from strong hives.


----------



## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

sqkcrk said:


> Making nucs from your worst hives will give you poor splits.
> 
> When I take my colonies south for the winter the poorest ones are the ones that don't survive.
> 
> Make your nucs from strong hives.


The whole point of making splits in June/July is to use the worst hives you have so you at least get something from them. Even the worst hive will give you a couple good splits into which you would place new queens or queen cells.


----------



## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

peggjam said:


> The whole point of making splits in June/July is to use the worst hives you have so you at least get something from them. Even the worst hive will give you a couple good splits into which you would place new queens or queen cells.


If your worst hives are that good why not make a crop of honey off of them? 

I guess I imagined, perhaps wrongly, that ones worst hives are ones that aren't strong enough to make a good amount of honey or are perhaps too weak to build up for over wintering. No?


----------



## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

sqkcrk said:


> If your worst hives are that good why not make a crop of honey off of them?
> 
> I guess I imagined, perhaps wrongly, that ones worst hives are ones that aren't strong enough to make a good amount of honey or are perhaps too weak to build up for over wintering. No?


You would be correct in your assumptions, but those are the hives I would be more inclinded to split than ones that would make a decent amount of honey . When given a new queen and enough time to build up to a winter cluster, it would be a win/win thing .


----------



## Dwight (May 18, 2005)

*Ten Frame Deeps*

Last year I tried two methods.
In mid July I made up nucs in ten frame deeps. I put a couple frames of brood, a frame of honey/pollen and filled the rest of the box with empty frames and frames of foundation. I added a new laying queen and left them alone. I did not feed them at all. I did group them in groups of four. I put 2" thick styrofoam insulation under them and on top of them. They had a 3/8" X 3" bottom entrance and a 3/8" x 3" top entrance/vent hole. I wrapped them with tar paper. 
In mid August I split a ten frame deep with a specially designed feeder and put 1 frame of brood, 1 frame of honey/pollen and two empty drawn frames on each side of the feeder. I fed these nucs until November and then Put them on top of the inner cover of a strong colony. I put 2" insulation on top of them and wrapped them with Tar paper. 
The Ten Frame nucs did great and are my strongest hives this spring. The four frame nucs all perished though the winter. I think there were probably not enough young bees in the four frame nucs going into winter. They still had plenty of stores this spring. Moisture may have been a problem although there didin't seem to be ecessive moisture or mold in the boxes this spring.


----------



## IndianaHoney (Jun 5, 2006)

I agree with using the non-productive hives to make splits. But if I only winter them in a single story nuc box, how would they have enough room for buildup at the end of winter? Wouldn't this cause overcrowding? And cause them to consume all their stores?

I don't think I will put them above a full sized hive due to moisture. But wouldn't stacking the nucs side by side and on top of each other provide the same amount of heat as using a full deep body with a devider?


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Making nucs from your worst hives will give you poor splits.

If you requeen them, maybe not.


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

>>Making nucs from your worst hives will give you poor splits.
When I take my colonies south for the winter the poorest ones are the ones that don't survive.
Make your nucs from strong hives.<<

You're comparing 4 or 5 frame July nucs for overwintering, with nucs made for building strong colonies to overwinter. It's different. 

The whole point is to use the weak colonies for making your nucs. All you need is a frame of brood and bees...maybe a frame and a half. You use the resource that's in your weak colonies to your benefit. The nuc is requeened with a laying queen or a cell. They're only supposed to build up enough to fill their little chamber. They winter just fine. 

And, now that you don't have to split your strong colonies, in the spring, to replace your winter kill...remember, you made nucs last July from your non-productive colonies...you can let them make honey.

Best of both worlds.


----------



## Limey (Feb 10, 2007)

I plan on trying this approach for nucs...
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209740

What I do not understand is how a hive with just 5 frames and only a small amount of bees can survive a cold spell. I would have thought that 8 or 10 frames would be better?

Has anyone tried a nuc shed? put a load of nucs into some structure?


----------



## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Palmer:

Your mehtod worked wonders and thank you for your time in helping me out.


----------



## Hill's Hivery (Jan 7, 2005)

I to am planning on overwintering some nucs this year. With regards to the comment about a hive with 4-5 frames making it through winter...
I had a TBH I made last year and installed a swarm into it. Due to work, schedules, kids events, etc. I was unable to complete the top bars I needed to fill the hive. The Top bars were about 15" and there were 7-8 of them available for the hive. I anticipated losing them over the winter, but I will be darned that they made it through just fine.

So, IMHO 4-5 frames would be plenty for a colony to make it through the winter.

QUESTION THOUGH: Survival wise, is it better to have a 4-5 frame nuc overwintered or a single medium overwintered? Which stands a better chance for survival?


----------



## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

I am thinking about using double screens and stacking my nucs. I know MB tried stacking them once, but not sure what he had between them and how it turned out. I am hoping that it will be like using a double screen on a two queen colony. Biggest issue I think will be feeding, but I am using my 8 frame boxes so there should be plenty of room to leave them plenty of stores......we have enough good days here in the winter that I can feed fondant if need be.


----------



## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>I am thinking about using double screens and stacking my nucs. I know MB tried stacking them once, but not sure what he had between them and how it turned out.

I did it with a double screen over the hole on an inner cover. It was too much moisture for the nucs to handle. I don't recommend ANY opening between the hive below and the nuc above, let alone a full double screen.

> I am hoping that it will be like using a double screen on a two queen colony. 

It's not. You will have cold to create condensation.

>Biggest issue I think will be feeding

Probably not. If you give the nuc plenty of capped honey they won't need feeding.


----------



## timgoodin (Mar 10, 2007)

Limey said:


> Has anyone tried a nuc shed? put a load of nucs into some structure?



I was curious about this too. I have two outside unheated buildings, one with lawnmower in and the other is our chicken house. I could build a shelf with exterior entrance for nucs or hives. I was also considering building a small shed on the lawnmower building and could set nucs under a roof and three wall enclosure or four wall for that matter. This would keep them out of the wind and offer some protection from draft. I'm just curious if this would be of any benefit to wintering 5 frame nucs. 

Tim


----------



## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Tim and Blue:

I would read Larry Connor (sp) book called "Increased Essentials". It is a great book. 

Try using Kirk Webster and Michael Palmers method of overwintering nucs in a deep that is split with a divider. It works great.


----------



## FordGuy (Jul 10, 2005)

Dwight said:


> Last year I tried two methods.
> In mid July I made up nucs in ten frame deeps. I put a couple frames of brood, a frame of honey/pollen and filled the rest of the box with empty frames and frames of foundation. I added a new laying queen and left them alone. I did not feed them at all. I did group them in groups of four. I put 2" thick styrofoam insulation under them and on top of them. They had a 3/8" X 3" bottom entrance and a 3/8" x 3" top entrance/vent hole. I wrapped them with tar paper.
> In mid August I split a ten frame deep with a specially designed feeder and put 1 frame of brood, 1 frame of honey/pollen and two empty drawn frames on each side of the feeder. I fed these nucs until November and then Put them on top of the inner cover of a strong colony. I put 2" insulation on top of them and wrapped them with Tar paper.
> The Ten Frame nucs did great and are my strongest hives this spring. The four frame nucs all perished though the winter. I think there were probably not enough young bees in the four frame nucs going into winter. They still had plenty of stores this spring. Moisture may have been a problem although there didin't seem to be ecessive moisture or mold in the boxes this spring.



if you are making them with ten frame deeps, and filling them out, are you really making nucs? you seem to me to be filling out hives.


----------



## timgoodin (Mar 10, 2007)

*Great Reading*



Chef Isaac said:


> Tim and Blue:
> 
> I would read Larry Connor (sp) book called "Increased Essentials". It is a great book.
> 
> Try using Kirk Webster and Michael Palmers method of overwintering nucs in a deep that is split with a divider. It works great.



Thanks Chef Isaac---
I just returned "Increased Essentials" to the library, I got it through interlibarary loan and plan to pick up a copy for my library. It is a great book and I'd recommend it to anyone making nucs.

Tim


----------



## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

Michael Palmer has it figured out.
In reading down through some of the posts, I felt like there is a tendancy to make things more complicated than is necissary.
I have 50 nucs on hand for overwintering at present.
Hopefully my fall attrition in my full strength hives isn't so bad that I can't see at least half of them through.

Heres my story from last year:

http://orsba.proboards27.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=1162322072


----------



## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

peggjam said:


> "What is a candy board? How do you make them?"
> 
> 
> Candy boards mean different things to different people. To me a candy board is a mold that I place sugar that has been moistened enough to be placed in the mold and allowed to dry, which makes a hard block of sugar that is then placed on the hive sugar side down.
> ...


I have a few questions:
1. what are the demensions of the mold?
2. You don't use any newspaper under the candy, right?
3. Do you put the candy directly on the top bars of the frames? 
4. I presume that you have an empty full depth NUC box on top of the lowest NUC to add space for the Candy boards?
5. Or does it make sense to make a spacer board on top of a second box of frames, so in effect you have a five frame nuc with a full depth 5 frame box and a spacer (2 inch or so) on top for the candy board and then the migratory top...

Thanks in advance for your answers...


----------



## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

peggjam said:


> The biggest killer of hives in the winter is moisture...Wet bees are dead bees. Think about using a candy board feeder, or granulated sugar on newspaper inside an empty hive body.
> 
> Hives pushed together and either wrapped with tarpaper, or surrounded by insulation board, plus a small bottom entrance, and larger upper entrance will winter better than stand alone hives. You might even consider stacking a second bunch on top of the bottom ones, and wrapping the whole stack. You will need a really good wind break as well.


How big and where would I put the upper entrance? I built six NUC Boxes this past week, using the dadant 5 frame NUC as my model. Only difference is I made Migratory covers vs the telescoping covers and I don't have inner covers...


----------



## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

"I have a few questions:"

I'm gonna try this before I have my first cup of coffee, which is brewin now, if it gets too bad, you will never see this response.

"1. what are the demensions of the mold?"

Make it's outside deminsions the same as what ever hive you will use it on. You can make the depth 3-4 inches.

"2. You don't use any newspaper under the candy, right?"

No.


"3. Do you put the candy directly on the top bars of the frames?"

Yes.


"4. I presume that you have an empty full depth NUC box on top of the lowest NUC to add space for the Candy boards?"

No, the candyboard acts as your cover.

"5. Or does it make sense to make a spacer board on top of a second box of frames, so in effect you have a five frame nuc with a full depth 5 frame box and a spacer (2 inch or so) on top for the candy board and then the migratory top..."

No.


----------



## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

Jeffzhear said:


> How big and where would I put the upper entrance? I built six NUC Boxes this past week, using the dadant 5 frame NUC as my model. Only difference is I made Migratory covers vs the telescoping covers and I don't have inner covers...


 
A one inch hole should be plenty for your upper entrance. I am playing with putting it in the candyboard, and then placing the candy around it when I pour it in, then I wouldn't have to drill alot of holes in my box.


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Dwight said: 
>>In mid August I split a ten frame deep with a specially designed feeder and put 1 frame of brood, 1 frame of honey/pollen and two empty drawn frames on each side of the feeder. I fed these nucs until November and then Put them on top of the inner cover of a strong colony. I put 2" insulation on top of them and wrapped them with Tar paper. 
The Ten Frame nucs did great and are my strongest hives this spring. The four frame nucs all perished though the winter. I think there were probably not enough young bees in the four frame nucs going into winter.<<

Dwight, you may have fed the 4 frame nucs too much. If the combs are full of feed, how will the bees raise a large population of young bees for winter?


----------



## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

peggjam said:


> ""What is a candy board? How do you make them?"
> 
> 
> Candy boards mean different things to different people. To me a candy board is a mold that I place sugar that has been moistened enough to be placed in the mold and allowed to dry, which makes a hard block of sugar that is then placed on the hive sugar side down. ..."


I'm following you...but, are you saying that this hard block of sugar, molded to act as a outside cover will withstand the winter elements...particularily rain? Maybe I am missing something....which is not uncommon... <smile>

And thank you for your thoughts...I really appreciate it. Oh, and this one inch hole...When I drill a hole I presume I put it as high up as I can get it, right?


----------



## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

Michael Palmer - or others.

Is it too late to start up some 5 frame nucs? Last year I did queen cells in 5 frame medium nucs Aug. 5. None of them survived. Of course we had a bad fall flow and I failed to feed.

This year i was thinking about doing 8 frame medium nucs. I run all mediums so it is not helpful to do deep nucs.


----------



## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

Jeffzhear said:


> I'm following you...but, are you saying that this hard block of sugar, molded to act as a outside cover will withstand the winter elements...particularily rain? Maybe I am missing something....which is not uncommon... <smile>
> 
> And thank you for your thoughts...I really appreciate it. Oh, and this one inch hole...When I drill a hole I presume I put it as high up as I can get it, right?


The wooden frame protects the sugar from the elements, and of course it would have a wooden top as well. In other words you would need to build a frame with cover for each hive, and then fill them with sugar.


----------



## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

BerkeyDavid said:


> Michael Palmer - or others.
> 
> Is it too late to start up some 5 frame nucs? Last year I did queen cells in 5 frame medium nucs Aug. 5. None of them survived. Of course we had a bad fall flow and I failed to feed.
> 
> This year i was thinking about doing 8 frame medium nucs. I run all mediums so it is not helpful to do deep nucs.


It's ok if you feed them, and you give them drawn comb to start with.


----------



## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

You can make up the nucs from a hive that is not a double deep yet. That is what I do. Sometimes packages do not get the double deep filled so I break them up into 5 frame nucs and overwinter them. A great tool to use. I love it!!


----------



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Michael Palmer - or others.

Is it too late to start up some 5 frame nucs? Last year I did queen cells in 5 frame medium nucs Aug. 5. None of them survived. Of course we had a bad fall flow and I failed to feed.

This year i was thinking about doing 8 frame medium nucs. I run all mediums so it is not helpful to do deep nucs 

I don't think it's too late. I'm making another 100 this week, although with laying queens I catch tomorrow and Tuesday. I've wintered nucs in shallows and mediums, but use the whole box, in that case. I try to get them to fill the box with bees...a nice large cluster. 

The nucs I make in early to mid-July, I use only one frame of brood...maybe another with a bit of brood or eggs. At the end of the month, and early August, I'd use a bit more brood...maybe two frames. I think it would be good for the new queen to lay at least a couple rounds of brood. That would take you to mid-September. You're in Ohio, David. There must still be a fall flow on then, and your queens would still be laying?


----------



## Slabaugh Apiaries (Jul 16, 2006)

Hi All,
I read all the responses and would like to share the things that work for me.
2006-07 was a funny weather year and beeks adjust to the bees needs?? I had 47 nucs at the end of Dec. and lost 7 by the first of March. Most of these were due to that cold snap in march.
First, I reside in the far Northern part of Indiana and we do drop below -Oº for long periods. The most important thing I have found is to have a young queen around the first two weeks in Aug. This will get her 3? brood cycles before clustering. Some of my nucs are two deeps, some a deep and a half some are three (med. 6 5/8). 
Second, a good wind break with a southern exposure is more important then wrapping, I set them side by side with a 3.5" blanket of fiberglass insulation in a garbage bag sandwiched between them. This exposes the ends to avoid most of the moisture.
Third, I make a candy board that fits on top of each nuc ( to collect the moisture and then feed them if they need it.) there is a top and bottom entrance. Keep them 6" off the ground.
I sell nucs in the spring and local mated queens in the summer and this system lets me set up the same equipment for the late summer nucs to over winter. My goal is to over winter 60 nucs this year.
Regards,
Danny Slabaugh.


----------



## Jeffzhear (Dec 2, 2006)

peggjam said:


> The wooden frame protects the sugar from the elements, and of course it would have a wooden top as well. In other words you would need to build a frame with cover for each hive, and then fill them with sugar.


I wish I could see a picture of what you are doing..., but I do have an idea and so I'll go with that for the time being...


----------



## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

Michael Palmer said:


> Michael Palmer - or others.
> The nucs I make in early to mid-July, I use only one frame of brood...maybe another with a bit of brood or eggs. At the end of the month, and early August, I'd use a bit more brood...maybe two frames. I think it would be good for the new queen to lay at least a couple rounds of brood. That would take you to mid-September. You're in Ohio, David. There must still be a fall flow on then, and your queens would still be laying?


Michael and Peggjam and all.

OK, thanks. I will get to work on it! It has been a real good year for me so far, I have honey coming out my ears! We finally got a little rain and they are still working something (soybeans I think) and the goldenrod is looking good so may be a fall flow this year. I have a few hives that swarmed and have not built up very well so I plan to sacrifice them for nucs.


----------

