# Using Nuc as a cell builder



## CWBees (May 11, 2006)

Is it of to use a nuc as a cell builder if you place frames of honey and pollen in it?


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## bleta12 (Feb 28, 2007)

Yes, the nuc has to be super strong, the bees has to be hanging out, queen less for some time, kill the emergency cells, feed and put the cups to be cleaned and warmed 24 before grafting. 

Good luck

Gilman


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Nucs work great if you are grafting less than 20. If you place about 5 or six pounds of bees into the nuc, it should work fine. Remember, it is the density of the bees. Smaller space = less resources it takes for a cell builder colony.


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

All I use for cell starters is nucs. Granted you can't count on huge numbers of finished cells, but they are much easier to maintain than a full hive.


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## Jonathan Hofer (Aug 10, 2005)

So... from my understanding, you use the queenless nuc to start the cells. 

How long do you leave the cells in the nuc before transferring them to the cell-finisher?

Also, can you place started queen cells into the brood chamber of a queen-right hive to finish, while the original queen is present and laying?


Thanks


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## CWBees (May 11, 2006)

I think the cell starter is the cell finisher. When the cells are finished I would leave them in the cell finisher with cages over them and when the queens emerge from the cells I would place them each in a queenless mating nuc. I don't plan on raising more than 20 queens at a time so a finishing nuc sounds like the way to go. I would like to use my Carniolan queen in my observation hive as the breeder queen. Has anyone tried placing a Nicot system frame in an observation hive?

I would think the queen would still lay as normal I just don't know about the bees cleaning the Nicot cells as well as they would if the frame was in the center of as nuc. I have never used the nicot cells so I don't know why they would need to clean them anyway.


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

A cell starter is just what it sounds like, they start the queen rearing process, they feed and start the cell, they also accept or reject your grafts.

A cell finisher finishes the process. It can be queenright, but you must use an excluder to keep the queen from ruining your cells. 

I just use the cell starter to start and finish the job. Which is risky if one hatches earlier, as she will destroy all the cells.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

I also use my nucs for the cell starter and cell finisher. However, If I wanted to crank more queens out, it would be beneficial to quickly get out the cells from the nuc and let an established cell finisher take the queen cells.


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

Chef Isaac said:


> I also use my nucs for the cell starter and cell finisher. However, If I wanted to crank more queens out, it would be beneficial to quickly get out the cells from the nuc and let an established cell finisher take the queen cells.


I haven't gotten to that point yet, as I don't have quite enough mating nucs yet.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

pegg: me neither


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Chef,
You want to get great cells started in a nuc or single box without messin with your full hive's production, then next time you catch a swarm, use that.

A big swarm is just itching to produce wax, feed young, etc.

Wait 24 hours, pull the queen, and introduce the grafting bar. The bigger the swarm the better. You can usually get your best takes, 32 for 32, or what ever your number is.

You also don't have to worry about a "rogue" queen since when you introduce the graft, you know no egg inside the nuc(swarm) is more then 24 hours old.

If I catch a 5 or 6 pound swarm, its go time! Great looking cells and queens.


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

I've gotten so I make my cell starters out of a shook swarm, and then I put in a few frames of sealed brood, and a frame of honey. They get right to work.


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## Jonathan Hofer (Aug 10, 2005)

To use a queen-right cell finisher, all I have to do is seperate the queen from the cells I want to have finsihed. Right?

Do I have to have open brood on either side of the started cells, or can I just put the started cells into the Honey super? Will the bees finish the cells in such a configuration?

Thanks


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