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Thank you @ericbeaumont , indeed a very readable link about hive temperature/thermals/insulation which I understood such that I'm now planning insultation ahead of winter (this is my first year). I've got WBC hives so need to decide if I use the space between inner and outer walls as 'dead air'...

Not anymore… swine! 😉

@Boston Bees I completely subscribe, plenty of forage so hopefully all the activity is not the other hive robbing the new gang! I've not added syrup since my post and left them in peace for a week, so now they are due a peak as they should be settled in. I'm not experienced enough to know how...

Hi @ericbeaumont , I've not changed anything since my original post... work stopped play... so the 2nd super is still on top the first and the crownboard open; it has two rounded rectangle openings for those plastic one-way inserts. I would imagine it's pretty warm still, but only by virtue of...

Thanks again @Swarm , I appreciate it is not an exact science but as a newbie it is reassuring to affirm ones own suspicions or deductions. It's all part of the learning process... and there is a lot to learn!! Thank you, CP.

@Swarm , thanks for the quick reply, that's something I can certainly relate to. No harm done, I'm sure I can simply swap them over when I inspect the brood which I need do anyway after some 'fun and games' at the outset. Cheers.

Hello. I'm trying to avoid a repeat of my initial beekeeping experience. On receipt of my first (ever) nuc I did as instructed by the seller and used syrup. It was a very small nuc (3 frames) and mid-June so plenty of forage, the result was a massive amount of stores and a need to move things...

@Erichalfbee I read this thread a day late it would appear. After a bit of a rocky start and subtle remedial actions, I was delighted to find my new colony working the outer most frames of the super yesterday but simply popped a 2nd on top. Does it 'really' matter or is it one of those...

A bit of closure on this thread, I think, certainly an update. The weather allowed for a quick inspection today and it's really quite surprising how different things are in only 4 days. The 'new' frame from the end is almost completely drawn out and showing the first signs of use but that is...

Evening @Ian123, from comments like your own I’ve learned that mine might not have been the finest example of an over-winter nuc. It contained 6 frames, one so clean it might have gone in that morning and another with only the slightest evidence it had ever seen the inside of a hive. Three were...

Just a quick update to say that I’ve not meddled too much but moved one outer frame next to a lovely section of brood which had the queen busy doing her thing; it has started to be pulled albeit only a small area. I shifted everything up and at the other end swapped a really heavy store to the...

Well, that wasn't what I was expecting at all... thank you all for catching this as I just assumed it would all work itself out. As a novice I was not knowledgeable enough about the balance and managing the growth of the brood, certainly not in such a short time with only a couple of...

Hello, Based on feedback in another thread I might have taken delivery of a small nuc three weeks ago. Undeterred I popped on a syrup feeder and the hive has grown really well. They have drawn 7-8 frames and working hard on all but the two outer most, so I've removed the syrup feeder (as it was...

Hello! This is my second post on the 'BKF' having had a little, and slightly embarrassing, panic about nothing in only my first two weeks of bee keeping 🤫 I have been threatening to start bee keeping for a few years and after attending a courses last year with refresher a few weeks ago, I took...

@thorn that is actually how it all started. A friend joined me on the course and I have inspected his bees a couple of time before getting my own plus had many a discussion as he successfully split his hive this year, which doubled as a bit of swarm control. Unfortunately we're not quite close...

I certainly have found the right place for guidance. Thank you all! @Gilberdyke John , I also asked the chap who supplied the nuc, as obviously I was having a little panic, and in fairness he gave the same reassuring “pollen” confirmation. I certainly haven’t been left stranded after the course...

Thank you Ian and Erichalfbee for your replies. Evident from my original post I’m clearly a novice albeit I have attended courses for 3 days which included practicals; no idea how I missed the bit on pollen so shall swiftly move on!! As a noob it would be unfair of me to ‘name and shame’ the...

LOL, I went on a two day course which I watched listened and learned intensely, then had a refresher before I got my nuc... and in all that time I never read anything about mould nor did I see images of such colourful frames!! Thank you for the quick reply, and the reassuring replies at that. I...

Hello, I think I might be getting off to a rather bad start to my keeping. I received my nuc two weeks ago, it is my first ever nuc/bees so I am very much a newbie but still I think I might be somewhat unlucky to find myself here asking for help before I have even posted an introduction in the...