# Mating Nucs



## Jon McFadden (Mar 26, 2005)

Anyone interested in building mating nucs for $1 ea? We used them last year and they worked really well!


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Out of what? With what size frames/bars?


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

Please do tell!

The best I do for breeding nucs is about 2 dollars a piece, for 3 frame nucs. I can get birch plywood from crating, for around 5 dollars per half sheet 3/4 inch (48x54) or something close to that. I can make two nucs from each sheet, and have a bit left over to start the next. I do not overwinter these, and use them for the breeding season, and then change them over to 5 frame or full hives for winter.

I make solid pine 3 and 5 frame nucs also. But they are a bit more depending on the deal/source of wood.


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

this is not a 'new spin' on the old soup can idea is it Jon? at one buck you will definitely have everyone's attention.


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## Jon McFadden (Mar 26, 2005)

This is a continuation from last year when there was some interest expressed in the mating nucs I used. I didn't want to pass on bad information in case they didn't work. I should have posted something during the winter, but I have other activities that occupy my attention. I am getting equipment ready for this year and I realized I hadn't posted dimensions on them.
What we did was make 16 mating nucs from a sheet of 1" extruded styrofoam. The cost for the styrofoam and liquid nails was almost $15.
They worked great!
I'll get some pictures taken and get the drawings posted. Arranging the parts for minimum waste was the hard part.
The frames are sized so 3 of them fit in a medium super frame to get the wax drawn. Saves cutting up drawn wax. We placed the frames in a box with a newly captured swarm and they had them drawn out in less than a week.
Jon


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## Albert (Nov 12, 2006)

You know...

I was standing in Lowes the other day and I was looking at the different solid insulations there with the intent of using it for the inside of the covers to keep the heat load out of the hive. It never occured to me to use it for nucs.

I'm going tomorrow! I can do the math myself! Whoopee!

seriously, I needed a convenient and quick way to put together some nucs. How do you keep them in place, a brick? How about ventilation?

Anyway thanks for the great Idea!

Albert

PS: Whats the soup can idea?

AAR


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

albert sezs:
I was standing in Lowes the other day and I was looking at the different solid insulations there with the intent of using it for the inside of the covers to keep the heat load out of the hive. It never occured to me to use it for nucs.


tecumseh replies:
not the best of ideas since the contact area between wood and insulation is a most excellent habitat for the small hive beetle. been there, done that.


then albert adds:
PS: Whats the soup can idea?


tecumseh replies:
one of the old dudes I worked for some years back talked about talking old soup cans (lid not quite totally removed) adding a small sliver of wax, a dixie cup of bees and a queen cell and (via a nail hole punced in said soup can) wiring the can unto the branches of trees (shrub in this case since he resided down in the brush country of southern texas).

and that is the soup can mating nuc idea... for all practical purposes totally free. I should point out that the imported fire ant would likely make this idea quite undoable at the original location.


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## Jon McFadden (Mar 26, 2005)

This mating nuc is based on the $15 ones the bee suppliers advertise. It incorperates a small ventilation slot in the back with 1/8" mesh hardware cloth and a robber screen on the front to protect the hive. A brick is used to keep everything from getting airborne in a strong wind.


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## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

OK, I'm interested.

I made a hive out of the 2" blue foam, but never put bees in it. I wanted to get some kind of durable outside for it and could not find any of the synthetic stucco products at my local Bldg marts. I figured I was able to make a full size Langstroth for about $10 including the top and bottom boards. (no frames though)

If I could make some mating nucs for a buck or two - I'd sure like to do it. It is warm and perfect weather for making queens here in Orlando.

Can you post the plans soon, please?


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

>and that is the soup can mating nuc idea...

I love it.

It's been a while since I watched them, but in one of those German "Skep Beekeeping" videos they used mating nucs which were little more than a small wooden box perhaps 4" square with a removable lid and hole in one side for an entrance. They put a gob of fondant in the bottom, threw in a half cup or so of bees and a queen cell and set them out in a field. When they checked on them, the ones with mated queens had a nice little piece of comb attached to the lid, the ones without a mated queen had no comb.

I've seriously been planning on trying something similar this summer.

A soup can eh?


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## wayacoyote (Nov 3, 2003)

HEy, Tecumseh! This is EXACTLY what I've been looking for! I'm stoked to try this out. George,
Keep me posted on what you come up with. 

Waya


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## flathead (Nov 1, 2006)

<little more than a small wooden box perhaps 4" square with a removable lid>

Seems like you would have to get her out of there pretty quick or they might take off. Right?

How would you check her laying pattern?

Be easy to find her though.


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

Flathead: I dunno, I dunno, and Yeah









I think, as soon as the queens were mated and laying, they caught them and caged them. They wouldn't fit in that tiny box very long.

As for checking her laying pattern well.. all I can suggest is these boxes were "mating" boxes, not "check her laying pattern" boxes?

I'll try and find the time to look at the video again soon. Seems to me it was the "swarming" video, swarm season being when they make their increase.

George-


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## Albert (Nov 12, 2006)

Troy,
Nice living in Sunny Florida isn't it! How are your hives doing by the way? I'm really pleased with the progress some of mine are making. Got a couple that aren't up to par, but it could be a faulty interpretation of observations on my part. 

You have any issues come up? I haven't experienced anything untoward except for a case of robbing that I precipitated myself.

Tecumseh,
My idea is to glue a piece of 2 inch insulation inside the cover. I usually caulk everything in an attempt to minimize the # of hideing places for pests. The inside cover has the vents and has a 1/2 inch standoff for the over cover. The cover's sides are 3.5" deep. The tops are covered with Tyvek.

I went and checked the cost of extruded styrofoam The 2 inch stuff is $31.00 per sheet. I haven't found one inch yet. They got polystyrene, (you know, the white stuff), and without protection, it might not last very long. Of course you could glue luan to the outside but that ups the cost considerably. 

Thanks!
Albert


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## wayacoyote (Nov 3, 2003)

Jon,
You got plans drawn up for those yet?


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## Jon McFadden (Mar 26, 2005)

Ok. I have the box diagrams done. They are made from 1/2" extruded foam, not 1". You get 16 boxes from one sheet of 4'x8'x1/2 foam. The assumption is that there is no saw kerf, so if you use something other than a box knife, you need to allow for that. There is no waste in the 96" direction, however.
My son cut out the styrofoam while I worked on the woodenware, so I don't know how he kept the lines straight. Whatever he did, he did a great job. 

These drawings are modified a little from what I gave him. I thought 1/2" styrofoam was 1/2" thick. It isn't, or at least ours wasn't, it was 9/16" thick. Because of that, our seams didn't line up right. Not a big deal, but if they had, it would have looked more professional. I have made the adjustment for 9/16.

http://nordykebeefarm.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=6&PN=1

I'll post some pictures tomorrow.
Jon


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## jean-marc (Jan 13, 2005)

I like it. Thank you for the information.

Jean-Marc


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

My son brought home a small cooler with bait in it. I'm thinking it could make a nice mini-mating nuc by simply adding a few triangular top bars cut off of a one by. I don't know if I'll get around to trying it or not, but it might be worth trying.


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## George Fergusson (May 19, 2005)

I had occasion today while helping my daughter assemble a futon frame to watch a few videos on her cable-connected Mac. I found the one I was thinking of:

"Heathland Beekeeping - 4. Central Europe, Northern Lower Saxony - Work in a Heather Skep Apiary during the Cast Swarming Period"

I was right about the boxes, but wrong about the procedure. They threw in a gob of fondant, a cup full of bees, and a virgin queen. Memory failed me









That said, I don't see why the same kind of scheme couldn't be tried using a queen cell.


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## Jon McFadden (Mar 26, 2005)

I have uploaded a couple of pictures of the mating nuc we constructed.
http://nordykebeefarm.com/forum/forum_topics.asp?FID=6


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## Albert (Nov 12, 2006)

Jon,

Thank you very much for the info!

I thought that those reinforcements they sell for boxes, "metal frame rests", might be a good addition.

Thanks again,
Albert


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## Jon McFadden (Mar 26, 2005)

Albert,
Not a bad idea. We didn't have any real problems with propolis last year, but if they did glue down the frames, it would save tearing up the foam.
Thanks for sharing.
Jon


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