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Date: | Wed, 20 Nov 2019 04:32:17 +0000 |
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Trevor wrote-"I believe that size of mating nuc is not crucial as all the queens characteristics have been determined in the cell produced. We used mini nucs with great success. "
It would seem that perhaps the mini size (1 cup bees) was chosen for thermal regulation and ease of use reasons?
"For the mating of queens, frames as small as a standard section (4" x 4") have been employed and as few as a dozen bees, but for satisfactory use for emergence, mating, and testing for fertilization, it is generally necessary to use a much larger number of bees, except where the night temperature is uniformly high. The supply of bees must be kept up, but the greatest success in quick fertilization is obtained with a moderate number, not more than, say, five hundred."
Wedmore, Manual of Beekeeping, 1932
"as few as a dozen bees"?? that's tiny
This Beekeeper is mating out queens with 10 bees https://youtu.be/QkeIPPiIddc?t=391
The title reads
"A little-known way of flying around the queens in nuclei the size of several matchboxes !!! For settlement you need only 10 young bees. The costs of a bee and feed for flying around one uterus are so small that they can be called microscopic. This is possible only with a large investment of time by the beekeeper, but the result is worth it. Having 5-10 bee colonies, it is possible to breed uterus in thousands !!!!!!"
The nucs are set out on the stand during the day and brought in to climate control at night and presumably during poor weather.
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