# How do you keep nuc clusters from freezing overwinter?



## johnmcda (Aug 10, 2015)

I use a double nuc that has divider down the middle of a 10 frame box. There are 4 frames on each side stacked two high for total of 8 frames for each colony. They share the heat. Granted, my winters are very mild compared to your location but the double nucs do work in the north.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

I know Mike Palmer does it extensively, but let's face it; Vermont is just a magical place. Our bees here in NH are much more down to earth and carry out our state motto: Live, Freeze and Die. 

Before I invest in either adapting my 10 frame mediums or spending all that money on nuc boxes, I want to know why these small clusters survive the long winter chill. My large colonies always do better than my summer splits that haven't built up large by fall. Experience tells me that it's either go big or go dead, so what am I missing here.


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## ralittlefield (Apr 25, 2011)

Perhaps you will have larger clusters than you are thinking.


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

They survive the cold because that's what bees do and have done for millions of years. Its hard for any of us to really understand how bees can sit out there in those wooden boxes in below zero weather and a windchill and survive day after day after day, but they do. Now, there is a magic number of bees that it takes to do such a thing, I can't say exactly what it is, but probably somewhere near a couple pounds of bees, maybe even a little less. And of course, they need plenty of food stores and the cluster needs to stay in contact with it. If you winter side by side nuc's in the same box located over a production colony inner cover, then maybe the nuc's can get by with a little less bees and still survive because of all the shared warmth.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

ra, you're from Maine. Do you overwinter nucs? And if you do, do you feed them to beef up their numbers before fall? Mine have not been quick to build up large cluster sized populations by fall, but I don't feed them either, so maybe that's a point.

How big can clusters get in 4 frames tho? Or even 4 over 4?


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

jmgi said:


> They survive the cold because that's what bees do and have done for millions of years. Its hard for any of us to really understand how bees can sit out there in those wooden boxes in below zero weather and a windchill and survive day after day after day, but they do.


The other day in the middle of winter we had some very mild days (it's been a mild winter overall) and the mosquitoes magically appeared. Somehow they overwinter just fine.


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

Yes, honey bees aren't the only bugs that seem to have built in winter survival. Many of them have anti-freeze in their systems.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

On a side note, and not to derail the forum here, but if beekeepers became mosquito keepers instead, we would cut down the mosquito population in no time. 

"Let me just check on those mosquito eggs one more time..."


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Plenty of bees? 
These are in 1/2" plywood don't seem to be skipping a beat. Probably a basketball sized cluster considering all the bees down on the frames still.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

Beautiful cluster, jw! I take it that was not a nuc.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

You could try what a friend of mine does. He has ten 5 frame nucs two stories tall on a warehouse pallet. On top of that he places an insulation quilt made out of black plastic and 6 inch fiberglass insulation. He makes a bag out 10 mil black plastic, larger than the top of the pallet of nucs so the bag hangs down both ends. It helps.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

I don't think there's any getting around that you have to use 5/5 or 4/4 nuc boxes, 2 stories. That must be the secret ingredient. I had hoped to be able to nuc in my single mediums, but that just won't provide the cluster warmth they need. 

The option then is either to invest in double nuc boxes at about $100 each and that means switching to deeps instead of running all mediums like I do now, or figure out how to turn my mediums into double nucs and put the labor into it. That's why I wanted to make sure that the clusters are really going to be warm enough to survive the winter before I go thru the trouble. I guess the only way to know for sure if I can do it is to try it out. And then, well-wrapped but still ventilated. I'd still put a quilt box on top.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Winter them on top of a strong colony. Michael Palmer started Wintering nucs that way.


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## FlowerPlanter (Aug 3, 2011)

>if the cluster is too small, the bees will not generate enough warmth to overwinter, they'll freeze and die.

http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?295359-Over-Wintering-in-the-Garage-Update


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## Pooh Bear (Jun 19, 2015)

Mosquito larvae make great food for aquarium fish. Just don't tell your wife that's what your feeding them.

I'm overwinter, successfully so far, one 4x4x4 Nuc. Mind you we've had a mild winter in the northeast but it's basically a single tower in my apiary wrapped in tar paper.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

NewbeeInNH said:


> Our bees here in NH are much more down to earth and carry out our state motto: Live, Freeze and Die.


beautiful :thumbsup:


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

sqkcrk said:


> Winter them on top of a strong colony. Michael Palmer started Wintering nucs that way.


If you try this with a screen between the hive and nuk, make sure you ventilate well.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

NewbeeInNH said:


> Beautiful cluster, jw! I take it that was not a nuc.


It's a "nuc".  15 frames. The 10 framers have similarly sized clusters just not quite so big.

They are in five frame 1/2 plywood Coates nucs with supers.


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## sterling (Nov 14, 2013)

NewbeeInNH said:


> I don't think there's any getting around that you have to use 5/5 or 4/4 nuc boxes, 2 stories. That must be the secret ingredient. I had hoped to be able to nuc in my single mediums, but that just won't provide the cluster warmth they need.
> 
> The option then is either to invest in double nuc boxes at about $100 each and that means switching to deeps instead of running all mediums like I do now, or figure out how to turn my mediums into double nucs and put the labor into it. That's why I wanted to make sure that the clusters are really going to be warm enough to survive the winter before I go thru the trouble. I guess the only way to know for sure if I can do it is to try it out. And then, well-wrapped but still ventilated. I'd still put a quilt box on top.


It is not all that much work to make a double medium nuc box or that expensive. You just make a shallow saw cut on each inside of the medium box and cut out a piece of thin plywood to fit in the box and bottom board. Cut another medium box in half [not really half] to make two four frame mediums to stack on the divided bottom box. You can use feed sacks for inner covers and a regular telescoping top. I know this is not a detailed plan but you can get the idea. I have some of these and they work fine.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

The trick to overwinter nucs is to treat them like full size hives, start with strong healthy bees, Ample stores (and I mean AMPLE), and ventilation. I believe a quilt box is more important on a nuc than a 10 frame hive! Place the nucs side by side and back to back provide a good windbreak.  and do not mess with them too much. your overwinter success will be as good as your main hives.


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## sterling (Nov 14, 2013)

And NBEE if you want to build medium double nucs that equal four frame deeps I have built some six frame double nucs out of scrape lumber that I like better than the four framers. But I like to build stuff with scrape material.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

jwcarlson said:


> It's a "nuc".  15 frames. The 10 framers have similarly sized clusters just not quite so big.
> 
> They are in five frame 1/2 plywood Coates nucs with supers.


Impressive. You may have already posted on the threads, and I can look, but I wonder how your nucs got to this point.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

sterling said:


> It is not all that much work to make a double medium nuc box or that expensive. You just make a shallow saw cut on each inside of the medium box and cut out a piece of thin plywood to fit in the box and bottom board. Cut another medium box in half [not really half] to make two four frame mediums to stack on the divided bottom box. You can use feed sacks for inner covers and a regular telescoping top. I know this is not a detailed plan but you can get the idea. I have some of these and they work fine.


I'm going to try that. It does not sound hard, I'm just a little shaky on making it securely divided so that they aren't visiting each other over the top edge. I have visions of the War of the Colonies taking place during winter if I don't do it right. But using existing equipment is the cheapest and most practical alternative (outside of scrap wood, which is the ultimate, but I think you have to know what you're doing).


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## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

Newbee....take my observations for what they are in my less then 1 year of bee keeping. I have no data to back up these assumptions. 
Checked my hives out at the farm on that last warm day feb1st. While my double 10 frame deeps with one super had bees in about 6 seams visible my 4 nucs had proportionally more. one of them I had to smoke to get them down enough that I could put on some feed.......and they hadn't eaten more then 50percent of the sugar patty that I left them in dec. 
Anyways I think because the cluster.....even though smaller then a ten frame does better as it is spread across all 5 frames so as it eats and moves up it utilizes all of the honey stored. If a ten frame is clustered in the middle my thought is they are missing the outer 2.5 frames on each side which amounts to 3-5 frames of feed missed adding to starvation.
Also the smaller design I believe allows for the chimney affect so that it is significantly colder at the bottom of the cluster then at the top. In other words a cluster in a ten frame has a lot more area around them so more cold but a nuc is spread to both sides of the box so above that is warmer and bees on that side have to exert less energy to warm their side of the cluster.
Mine are all presently single 5x5 setups with quilt boxes. I made basic board bottom and top covers for each. I'm still trying to decide if I want to stay with single towers or use the double ten frame bottoms with a split in it. As a new beek I think i'm hesitant and worried that I would not see a queen and she would get to the other side and one would be killed.
Nucs seem to make more use of all 5 frames where in my ten frame boxes they always leave a couple frames empty before building up. 
Lastly I like the fact that I can build 3 5 frame boxes with one sheet of 32 dollar plywood. I use 3/4 inch AC and besides the weight I like them. If I ever do sell a nuc I can make an additional profit selling the box.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

Kaizen - I think what you said makes perfect sense. 1st year beekeepers in NH equate to about 10 yr. beekeepers anywhere else, when you take the all-above-average into consideration. 

The meme was: just use the equipment you have, but honestly, I don't think full mediums make good nucs. I think they need the smaller and taller, just like you said, it's easier to go up and down for them than side to side. They might go to one side, but then not the other.

Sounds like you made your own nuc boxes then, which is a great alternative.

(Nice snow coming down - looks like our winter is about to start)


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## rkereid (Dec 20, 2009)

NewbeeInNH said:


> I know Mike Palmer does it extensively, but let's face it; Vermont is just a magical place. Our bees here in NH are much more down to earth and carry out our state motto: Live, Freeze and Die.


If Mike can do it in Vermont on the Canadian border, you can do it in NH. His double divided nucs share heat and winter like a healthy production hive. From PA on south, even in the mountains where it is more similar to northern areas, you could winter in single wide 5 frame nucs. As long as they have enough stores, they do fine. Production hives that die out with small clusters near honey are smaller than the clusters in the nucs. The deadouts are usually small enough to die because they are having a problem with mites or something else. Healthy nucs can withstand a lot of cold as long as they are not out of food. 

You could always try a few to see how they do.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

I think I need to watch MP's youtube one more time.

This is a comprehensive plan for creating overwintering nucs: https://www.betterbee.com/images/Double_nuc_instruction.pdf

You usually find divided deeps for nuc bodies. Not running deeps myself, the frames would not be interchangeable with other hives. 

Brushy Mountain does make a nice double medium nuc, but it has a telescoping lid. To push those together in winter you'd need to chuck those and put a single telescoping lid on, which I assume would fit. http://www.brushymountainbeefarm.com/5-Frame-6-5_8-Complete-Nuc/productinfo/682/

That's an option. $50 a hive, to see how they go, I guess it might work to order a few of those.


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## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

NewbeeInNH said:


> Kaizen - I think what you said makes perfect sense. 1st year beekeepers in NH equate to about 10 yr. beekeepers anywhere else, when you take the all-above-average into consideration.
> 
> The meme was: just use the equipment you have, but honestly, I don't think full mediums make good nucs. I think they need the smaller and taller, just like you said, it's easier to go up and down for them than side to side. They might go to one side, but then not the other.
> 
> ...


no kidding I was smoking beef and raking the yard yesterday and today i'll be running the snow blower.
The method palmer and others use with a divided bottom box I think has some benefits which are you can convert the box to ten frame and use later, if one side has more stores then the other side could utilize it if a queen excluder is used and open boxes. like I said i'm not quite comfortable with the excluder and keeping them separate so i'll stick to my singles.
one other note worth mentioning. I had one nuc crammed in between two full hives so there was a 2 inch clearance around the quilt box holes but when I opened it up the sugar patties were mush. the entrance was very reduced but was closed or blocked. So i'm wondering if the other hives making a wind break actually created this issue or this hive for some reason creates more moisture. I mention this because i'm wondering if ganging them all together is better or worse.


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## rkereid (Dec 20, 2009)

NewbeeInNH said:


> I think I need to watch MP's youtube one more time.
> 
> You usually find divided deeps for nuc bodies. Not running deeps myself, the frames would not be interchangeable with other hives.


All mine are mediums and like STERLING I like using scrap material where ever I can.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

NewbeeInNH said:


> Impressive. You may have already posted on the threads, and I can look, but I wonder how your nucs got to this point.


Nothing different than anyone else would do, I don't think. Two frames of brood and a shake or two of bees. Introduce queens under cage later that day. Did this in July the 11th, feed them... Pollen sub and syrup. They get strong in a hurry. Was a good year to make up nucs. Split a queen off in late August as they were going to swarm. Just 1 frame of brood and lots of bees. They are 5/5 and donor colony still going to... I am a very small sample size. But the idea is what I interpreted from MP's videos, just different boxes. Get and keep varroa under control... Food. It isn't terribly complicated. 

The bees do 99% of the work... Otherwise it's just taking care of them. One of the 5/5s wanted to swarm so I cut cells, added another 5 frames, and took a frame of brood to boost the neighbor. That was the end of wanting to swarm... They drew another 5 frames plus added an empty comb so she had a place to lay.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

rkereid said:


> All mine are mediums and like STERLING I like using scrap material where ever I can.
> 
> View attachment 22815


Wow. I really covet your apiary.


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## buddey99 (Apr 26, 2013)

Not as a criticism to anyone; more thinking out loud. But in my area I have been able to overwinter bees in a 5x5 configuration and that's called a NUC and in a single 10 frame deep and that's a hive. Excluding Mr. Palmers method, what's the difference other then vertical and horizonal orientation of the comb. Seems both are hives that will winter if the fundamentals are followed... Healthy, strong proportional to food stores and space provided, ventilated for moisture and monitored for for stores... The biggest advantage I can find is the vertical hive (NUC) takes less space on my hive stand.


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

buddey - that's what I would have thought, but the verticals just seem to be able to keep them warmer. It might be an exceptional climate thing.


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## philip.devos (Aug 10, 2013)

Pooh Bear said:


> I'm overwinter, successfully so far, one 4x4x4 Nuc.


What is a 4x4x4 Nuc? My guess is that one of the "4's" means 4-frame. What about the other 2 "4's"?


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## Pooh Bear (Jun 19, 2015)

its basically 4 frames triple height. I have a divided hive on the bottom with stacked half deep boxes on top. It looks like a skyscraper in my garden especially with a quilt box on top. I do live in NY so I guess it's appropriate


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## cowdoc (May 15, 2011)

I started beekeeping in the Pemi-Baker/Squam Lake area of New Hampshire. My mentor told me never to feed bees. I didn't do that for a couple decades. In the last few years, however, I am starting to see how much better hives can survive winter with ample feed, whether it is honey or sugar syrup. It seems that we can try to rely on a fall flow, but some years the goldenrod is just not providing a lot of nectar and to make sure we have heavy hives going into winter, we need to feed. Seems basic, but has taken a bit to sink in. 

The colonies being 2 per box helps with the sharing of heat and also allows for using the same equipment or modifying the same equipment that is fairly standard. A double nuc uses the same 10 frame cover and can be made from a regular 10 frame hive body. The key to this is to make sure both sides are separated. The bottom boards need to be built up to make sure there is a divider. The inner covers need to be separated. 

The bees also like to work vertically. Having a narrow hive with ability to work up is better than a wide but shorter hive. You could probably work with mediums instead of deeps, but then you need more supers. A super on these double nucs is a box to itself that fits 4 frames. Two of these supers side by side have the same footprint as the 10 frame box. 

You could perhaps place two divided full width boxes on top of each other, but then when you are working them, there is bound to be mixing up of bees between the two colonies and perhaps allowing the queens to move to the other side where they would be killed. It would be really hard to work them like this. Another argument against using mediums is that the "overhead" of the frames is doubled. That is, the top bar is not drawn comb, so the bees lose that space for egg laying, honey storage and clustering. I am not sure this is important in a practical sense and can be minimized with plastic frames that don't have big topbars. 

Double nucs are usually made up in June or July. Through the year, they require attention to make sure they have supers as needed. We also will remove brood if they seem to be getting too strong, add brood if they are not strong enough, feed if there is no nectar coming in. They will be foundation drawing machines if fed. You need to avoid swarming in the fall while making sure they have adequate food for the winter. Make sure mites are cleaned up in August and that they have stayed cleaned up through September. We have seen a number of hives that were cleaned up in August, but died with signs of heavy mite infestation. They are probably re-infested after treatment when robbing weaker colonies. Last year seemed like a bad year for robbing since it was warm long after the nectar stopped. 

In the last couple of weeks, we have also fed winter feed. Pop the cover, look through the inner cover, if bees are up at the inner cover or in sight, add a winter patty or foundation. If not, you can recheck in a couple of weeks. 

I have been amazed at the number of these double nucs that come through the winter. Like the rest of beekeeping, however, the people that do the work to provide what the bees need when they need it tend to have more "luck" getting through winter than the people that don't.

Chris Cripps
[email protected]
Greenwich, NY (about same latitude as Concord, NH)


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

buddey99 said:


> Not as a criticism to anyone; more thinking out loud. But in my area I have been able to overwinter bees in a 5x5 configuration and that's called a NUC and in a single 10 frame deep and that's a hive. Excluding Mr. Palmers method, what's the difference other then vertical and horizonal orientation of the comb. Seems both are hives that will winter if the fundamentals are followed... Healthy, strong proportional to food stores and space provided, ventilated for moisture and monitored for for stores... The biggest advantage I can find is the vertical hive (NUC) takes less space on my hive stand.


Basically, I agree with you. 5x5 is a 10 frame single in a vertical configuration. Both setups will winter bees successfully. The difference is in our locations. You're in TN. I'm on the Canada border. our cold weather, that some years doesn't break for months, limit horizontal movement by the bees and those that aren't able to move sideways starve in place. The vertical 5x5s move up more easily, onto their needed honey stores.


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## Bdfarmer555 (Oct 7, 2015)

I caught a swam in September that was just bigger than a grapefruit, hanging on a piece of farm equipment. Dumped them into a cardboard box I had in my truck, then off to my yard. 

I only had 10 frame deeps to dump them into, and transferred a frame of eggs, larvae, and nurse bees from a strong hive next to them. They began fighting immediately, with at least 100+ dead bees in 15-20 minutes. Dumb mistake on my part, I guess. That gave them 10 plastic frames, one drawn with brood, and a small cluster. I gave them no chance to see spring.

About the end of October, nothing left for them to effectively forage, they'd expanded to 4-1/2 deep frames drawn out, so I built a Coates box and transferred them to the smaller space. They had a 1" hole drilled low on each end, with screen over one. They propolised the open hole, reducing it to one bee size, and it remained this way till almost Christmas

Made an inner cover and started giving them sugar bricks. I've had to refill them a few times thus far, and the nuc is heavier now than it was in early November. 

Too many details here I know, but I wanted to illustrate the tough road this nuc had. I realize this has been a mild winter(one week of single digit lows), and my winter is nothing to a Canadian one, but this single 5 appears to have equal chance to "winter" as a full size hive.


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## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

MP, Post #38:

"Our cold weather, that some years doesn't break for months, limit horizontal movement by the bees and those that aren't able to move sideways starve in place. The vertical 5x5s move up more easily, onto their needed honey stores. "

Some years ago here on BeeSource I read of a beek who cut one inch holes through the comb in the middle of the frames (top to bottom & side to side) to permit a communication pathway for bees in the winter cluster to access the adjacent frames. (This would sort of be the "Y" path in an X-Y-Z vector situation.) I have not tried this, but have you experimented with this concept to permit the cluster ease of access to horizontally to nearby stores of winter feed ? If so what has been your conclusion? I can see that perhaps it would be too labor intensive.

Regards,
Steve


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## NewbeeInNH (Jul 10, 2012)

cowdoc said:


> Double nucs are usually made up in June or July. Through the year, they require attention to make sure they have supers as needed. We also will remove brood if they seem to be getting too strong, add brood if they are not strong enough, feed if there is no nectar coming in. They will be foundation drawing machines if fed. You need to avoid swarming in the fall while making sure they have adequate food for the winter. Make sure mites are cleaned up in August and that they have stayed cleaned up through September. We have seen a number of hives that were cleaned up in August, but died with signs of heavy mite infestation. They are probably re-infested after treatment when robbing weaker colonies. Last year seemed like a bad year for robbing since it was warm long after the nectar stopped.
> Chris Cripps
> [email protected]
> Greenwich, NY (about same latitude as Concord, NH)


Thank you for all that great info.

I do wonder why bk's restrict their nucs from getting "too big". Only because if it's a powerhouse nuc, why not let it grow and become next year's production hive? Presumably there would be plenty of nucs that are content to stay nuc sized through fall and into winter. Also seems like it might eliminate the fight against swarming to just let the strong ones grow.

When one has all medium equipment and frames, it probably doesn't work to have deep body nucs, unless you want to switch all your bottom boxes to deeps and buy new boxes/frames, and even then sometimes you want to swap between mediums and deeps. I believe especially with Russians, they tend to lay all over the hive instead of sticking to brood boxes, you'd probably have to use an excluder. For now, I'm going to stick with mediums and medium nuc bodies. I wonder what works as a foolproof divider board in mediums for a nuc hive body. Then stack 4/4 nuc boxes on top of that.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Bear Creek Steve said:


> MP, Post #38: I have not tried this, but have you experimented with this concept to permit the cluster ease of access to horizontally to nearby stores of winter feed ? If so what has been your conclusion? I can see that perhaps it would be too labor intensive.


I haven't Steve.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>Some years ago here on BeeSource I read of a beek who cut one inch holes through the comb in the middle of the frames ...

I have never tried it but it was first put forth by L.L. Langstroth.

>I can see that perhaps it would be too labor intensive.

That's why I haven't tried it... but it seems reasonable.


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## johnbeejohn (Jun 30, 2013)

it sounds logical to me that it would help
people that are running foundationless frames or TBH are you seeing these holes consistently ??


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## Bear Creek Steve (Feb 18, 2009)

Since two of my heroes, MP & MB, have responded to my hole in the middle of frames for winter cluster "Y" vector travel to potential food, (Post # 40 above) I will commit to experimenting with the concept next winter and reporting my observations here on BS. Also, thanks for the history lesson, Re: L. Langstroth who is also a hero.

Steve


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>people that are running foundationless frames or TBH are you seeing these holes consistently ??

I have not seen them other than occasionally. Certainly not consistently.


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## Bryan4916 (Jun 5, 2012)

I work on foundationless medium frames and don't remember seeing Y holes since I bought a few nucs on foundationed deeps some 4 years ago. 

This is my second winter on 5x5x5 medium framed nucs. Both hives made it last year and came on strong in the spring. I fed them a pint of honey each in the spring. One was transferred to 10 frame boxes in the spring and the other got a 4th box. The flow was rained out but they still ended up swarming with plenty of room. One around June 1st and the other around July 1. Next time I plan to change them to 10 frame boxes earlier and spread out the brood chamber more. 

This winter I have 6 nucs. One is smaller than the others to see how small I can go. They all needed feed much earlier this time but are going strong.

I found that bees fill out the boxes faster than filling a 10 frame medium. Most people in our club are frantically feeding to get them to fill 20 deep frames while I am confident that 15 mediums in this configuration is plenty. Besides, I like to manage by the box more than by the frame. I just need to learn how to better manage the nucs in the spring.

The shb invasion in the summer has been harder on nucs than winter. They need to be a strong 5 frames by July 1 to have a chance. I also noticed that they don't like a vent or upper entrance during summer when they are that small. I add a vent for winter after the beetles subside.


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## ruthiesbees (Aug 27, 2013)

Michael Bush said:


> >people that are running foundationless frames or TBH are you seeing these holes consistently ??
> 
> I have not seen them other than occasionally. Certainly not consistently.


I run only TBH's and would agree with what MB said. I see it some, but then I am in an area where winters are not harsh and the bees consistently break cluster in winter to forage and move stores. The combs also don't go all the way to the hive floor so it's fairly easy for the bees to move around comb edges.


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