I was in the same position as you describe about three weeks ago. I transfered a smallish swarm from my 5 frame nuc into the brood chamber of my one and only National.
I started feeding with syrup the next day and was amazed at the rate they consumed it. The first real inspection was seven days later when I was delighted to see how much foundation had been drawn. I spotted the queen who looked small to my non expert eye. I continued topping up the syrup feeling the ladies should have something productive to do whilst waiting for the queen to start doing her stuff. Last week sealed stores on four frames and eggs were seen. Today, sealed brood, more eggs and loads of sealed stores. The colony has drawn out a sixth frame on one side but there is rather a lot of wild comb on the top of the frames which makes me think I might be giving the troops too much syrup. I have seen plenty of pollen entering the hive today which can only be a good thing. The weather has been fairly grotty over the past few days. The question is, when do I stop feeding? 5 star luxury might be OK for starters but they wouldn't be getting service like this if they lived in a hole in a tree. My objective is to build a colony that can survive the winter. I have no intention of taking any honey this year.
