So I tried something new…. I have a nucleus hives (nucs) to make up this year. Since I make my own queens, it takes about 6 weeks for queen to be born, mated, and start laying in a hive. So I wanted to make some nucs at the beginning of April. However, it was a bit cold and I was worried about the bees getting cold.

I realized I had nuc-sized double screen bottom board and thought I would give this a try. It was only 60 F (15 C) outside so I tried to work quickly. I left a box of brood and nectar/honey on the bottom, placed the double screen board, then put a box of brood and nectar on the top.

So now the heat from the bottom box can help warm the upper box, and I tried to put a nice population of bees on top. In theory the bees will create some queen cells on top, which I can put into some new nucs in a week or so.

I’ll let you know how it works!

May you prosper and find honey.