Early Nuc & Snow

Sunday's weather forecast showed morning snow and a high in the mid-thirties.  Not ideal for the new Nuc i made on Tuesday.  The nuc is a small space and easy to heat.  The bees, though, are too few and already stressed from being queenless.  Not knowing whether clustering longer than a day would harm them more I brought them into the garage Saturday night.

Almost melted away

The bees stayed the day in the heated garage helping me make a few Slatted Racks.  They wanted out of the nuc in the worst way but the #8 mesh kept them from flying around the garage.  At one point they were able to lift the mesh enough to allow a couple of bees room to almost crawl out.  Luckily I noticed it and was able to fix that right away.  

I thought about leaving them in the garage for a few days but the forecast improved the next day.  At noon on Monday i put them back on the stand outside.  It was warm and they were already active from being in the garage.  They were piled up at the entrance ready to fly.  I pulled the pins on the mesh but knocked the mesh off with a long stick.  They didn't buzz me but they poured out.

I realize that making a Nuc too early can lead to weather problems.  I've not made one before but will not forget this lesson.  In my defense Mary was brooding up fast with the added population from the Fall combination.  I was anxious about her swarming and so guessed at when to make the nuc.  Though it's still cold at night and the bees are probably clustering anyway.  I was afraid they might not be able to properly heat any queen cells they have in there for the day & a half.

The next Nuc will be from Myrina.  It will me made after I hive a package I'm suppose to get the weekend of April 2nd & 3rd.  I wonder if the current Nuc has an extra queen cell if I can put it in the next Nuc i make?  That would speed things up a bit.  Of course that's IF the current nuc HAS any queen cells...

...Too much shooting from the hip.  I have some reading to do.

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