SPEAKER: Hi there. We're going to talk today about
making up nucleus colonies. This is something I do with
my own personal beehive. So I make up nukes every spring, sell those to new
beekeepers and beekeepers that are looking to replace colonies that have been lost over the winter. There's big advantages
in dealing with nukes for both the seller and the buyer. Starting with the seller, we're able
to take a split out of the hive, which reduces the chance
that they'll swarm. We able to put some new
comb into our (UNKNOWN), so as we're making them up, we're able to introduce
brand new frames there. So we're kind of refreshing
the hive that way. And we sell the queen that's in the hive, put a queen sale in when we're done. And that way we get a new
queen in our hive every year. It keeps the hive stay quite
healthy and productive when we're doing things like that. On the buyer's side, you
get a box full of bees. It's got the queen already
accepted in there. So that's a big advantage
that the queen is already accepted by the bees
that she's coming with. We have several frames of brood, and then we have honey
and a frame of empty comb for the bees to work on so the buyer can just install those in their hive. And it's like an instant beehive
that's well-established. And they can go on to produce
honey even in the first year, especially if you have a comb
that's already drawn out. But if you don't, when you get a nuke, feed it sugar syrup so they can build the comb so a little bit more about what goes into these nucleus colonies? You can see that they're
made up in a way that there's spacers that hold the frames, both at the top and the bottom. So once we put frames in there, they can't swing at all and damage
bees, or especially the queen. So the frames are held in a rigid
way, so they're not mobile at all. This is a design that we
developed here in Ontario, a bunch of beekeepers working together, and so they have vent
holes on either end here, a little entrance flap right there. We can close and open
and they're available through the Wellington County
Beekeepers Association. We really like these. When you put a lid on, there's no
way for the rain to get in here. And so you can keep them in
these for a considerable period of time because they're
made up of coroplast, they're resistant to moisture. And they're very durable, we
can reuse these many times. So that's the box, the comb
that we're putting in these, we fill them up when we're taking
out the air to make up nukes. This is a comb that came
from a hive that died. We've inspected it to make sure there's no foul brood and then it's ready to use. And as I say, we can use new
frames in here as well. So let's get started, here
we have Wendy and Kate, and these are two volunteers
that help us out with our work here at
the Honeybee Research Center. They're going to go through these hives, take the supers off, look for the queens. And while they're looking for the queens, they're also identifying frames that will be going into the nucleus colonies. We need to be working with hives that are strong enough to make up a split. So we don't want to use
a colony that has less than eight frames of
bees, covered with bees. So anything smaller than
that, too small to split, you won't get a good nuke and the parent colony won't do recover very quickly. If they're nice and strong,
the parent colony can recover quite quickly and go on to be
a productive hive that season. We want to be adding lots of bees
to these nucleus colonies too. So Wendy and Kate have frames out right now as they're looking for the queen. Wendy's frame here is just full
of capped brood on both sides. That's what we're looking for. The best looking brood frame
in the hive of capped brood. We've put two of those inside these
nukes and because it's capped brood, that will emerge quickly and increase the population rapidly in the colony. And it looks really nice, so the buyer is getting something that looks great. So let's hold that frame up
and have a look there, Wendy. And you can see it's just covered from one side to another with the brood. So Kate has a frame here
that's pretty good. You can see there's cap
brewed around here, but an open space over there. So that's not one we would
put in the nucleus colony, but it would be a good one
to use to shake bees off. When we fill up the nukes during the day, many of the bees are out flying
and the temperature is quite warm, so there doesn't need to be too many
bees home to care for the brood. But at night, when it gets cooler,
we need to have more bees in there. So for every frame of brood we take, we shake another frame of bees
into the nucleus colonies. Sometimes more than that even, maybe
three shakes for two brood frames, it just depends on how many
bees are on the frame. Well, Wendy's found the queen here, and this hive looks good
for making up a nuke. So we're going to make up a nuke. We've got the queen caged
and set off at the side there. It's really helpful if you
can pick up a queen and cage her so you know where she
is and she's nice and safe. The very last thing you put
in the nuke box is the queen. So Wendy's got a honey frame
here covered with bees. So that's frame number one, it
goes in against the outside. She has to fit it down into those little grooves so it will stay in place. They're a little tippy with of
one frame honey off the side, but the next frame she's going to put in is one of the two very good capped brood frames that will go in there
with all the bees that are present. So that goes down in there. And then the next frame
she's going to pull out will be for adding extra bees. So we need to maintain this extra space
in here for shaking the bees in, that's why we're not putting
any more frames in just yet. So we're going to shake two
frames of brood bees in here. What do you think, Wendy? Two or three? SPEAKER: Maybe three. SPEAKER: OK, yeah, it's pretty warm out here, so there's not a lot
of bees on the frames. So we'll shake three frames. She's holding it really
firmly and then giving a sharp shake in to get
most of the bees off. And that really helps keep the brood warm and the population will grow quickly because there's lots of bees there
to take care of any future brood. So that's three shakes. Now the next frame we add is
our second good brood frame, goes right in this position here, and the last frame that we're
putting in is drawn empty comb that gives the bees
something to work on. And then we will be putting
the queen into place. Just set her on top there Wendy, please. I'm just going to lift this
up here to close the hive up, but I'll be making sure those
frames are all in a good spot. Releasing the queen, letting her
go down into the hive there. Then we lift the flap on one end,
lift a flap on the other end, so we have good ventilation. And then we use this tuck
tape that's designed for taping down the building
sheathing material. But it's very strong tape,
weather resistance. And we go all around, all
the way around the top that holds the lid in place and keeps
bees from getting out. So that nuke then needs
to be put in the shade, kept somewhere very cool, and hopefully the customers come
and pick it up the next day. Moving back to the parent hive,
we've got to put it back together. So we transfer all the frames
over to this side here, get all the brood, put back
together, close together. We put the honey frame in,
that we brought because we took a honey frame away
and then more empty comb. And we're going to put
a frame of foundation in here just to get some new comb built. We'll put it in that position there. Then we will close
the hive up and come back the next day to put the queen cell in. We'll flash forward to the next
day and put the queen cell in. We're putting that rating
between two frames that have brood and just
hanging it like so. And then we can continue
to close the hive back up. So go ahead, Wendy. From here on in, we just
leave this hive alone. We come back after 27 days,
it's kind of a specific number. If we come back after 27 days,
if our queen was accepted and mated, we'll have lots of capped
brood at that point. If they have raised their own
queen, which sometimes happens, there will be just young
larva and not a lot of capped brood because of
the timing difference. The third situation is nothing worked out and the colonies are laying workers. But in every case it's very clear
what we're seeing in our colonies, and then that colony can continue
to grow, produce honey that year. And so we've not only sold
a nuke out of the hive, but we'll get a honey production
and we'll (UNKNOWN) it swarming. So it works all the way around. This is a really well-established
practice here in Ontario. It's the key to our
self-sufficiency in the province.
