Feeding a bought nuc

[TOBY-3652]

Hi everyone just a quick question for someone experienced. When buying a nuc and have got it transfered in a national hive how much syrup should be fed to it to get it going??????????

 

[Poly Hive]

LOL as much as it takes.

PH

 

[oliver90owner]

And in addition to PH's reply, It should be going already!

So I would say 'why feed it?' If there is a reason, by all means, but otherwise - no.

RAB

 

[Gillybee]

A nuc transferred into a full size hive will invariably need feeding so that the bees have sufficient food to be able to draw out the rest of the frames of foundation, so sorry RAB I disagree on your thinking.

Gillybee.

 

[TOBY-3652]

It will be transfered into a full size hive . Just been reading a book and it says feed 5 litres,,,

 

[Gillybee]

i would recommend at least a Gallon but no more.


Gillybee.

 

[roymichaeldean]

Timing

Hi

Could you tell me when you will be getting the Nuc..???

I got one last August and fed through the Autumn sugar/water 1:1 until they lost interest in October


roy

 

[bee crazy]

Sorry Rab but i have to agree with Gillybee

I would say there is no fixed amount of sugar you should feed. if the bees have drawn out about 8 frames then dont feed if they are on 5 frames and have to draw the rest out then feed it just helps them along.

simple really

 

[oliver90owner]

Gilly bee,

There should be enough stores in a nuc for a couple of weeks. If it is a proper nuc.

There should be as much forage around that they can collect their own - that is what the foraging bees are for!

A nuc should be keep warm and cosy with just a frame or two of foundation to draw as the colony expands.

The nuc was likely not being fed extra before it was purchased, so what has changed?

A nuc is only a small colony, so should expand quite quickly in the right conditions.

NOW, if the weather is unfavourable, the nuc is not a 'balanced' small colony (produced just prior to supply), is short of stores, etc - then yes you feed. As I said, if there is a reason, yes; if not what good does it do? I hate words like 'invariably' as it doesn't leave any lattitude for discretion.

I would not just simply transfer a 5 frame nuc to a box where they only occupy half the frames in adverse conditions. Just cr*p beekeeping, if you want them to expand quickly.

Regards, RAB

 

[TOBY-3652]

Getting 2 nucs in mid to end of april one will be 5 frames and one will de 6 both going into national hives

 

[Poly Hive]

In which case feed them.

Now if you have mentors on or off line who can predict how much feeding your colonies need the please ask them for the lottery numbers for tomorrow night.

Cos I want them .... lol

PH

 

[roymichaeldean]

50/50 agreed

Hi

i would agree with Poly Hive.............and my reason is that I would would want to give them a boost.......as they will be needing to draw foundation and go looking for pollen so they are going to be busy bees...and maybe need some help at that moment in time...for a few weeks....

But as always you pays yer money and takes yer choice


roy

 

[oliver90owner]

I thought I was in perfect agreement with PH. LOL. As much as it takes.

The point is is feeding a zero amount actually 'feeding'?

As I said, you ask the question 'why feed it?' before actually making a decision. IF it is a cheap, 'thrown together' nuc the answer to that question may be a reason to feed.

IF it is a strong well balanced nuc where all the flying bees are the offspring of the queen, it's status as a colony will not have changed, apart from location in the day before purchase to the day after.

IF the foraging conditions are more than adequate those bees can simply develop perfectly well without extra feed, which is neither here nor there if there is more stores than enough already in the hive.

The point is, as PH says, if someone knows beforehand they should be winning the lottery every week. So go by the facts and don't pre-suppose anything. By all means take the advice of the vendor - after all they would know how good the nuc was.

As for a nuc in August - that seems like prudent autumn feeding as much as anything, to me.

Here is an example for you to ponder. Your nuc is parked at the edge of a field of OSR in mid April with warm weather and someone is suggesting they must need feeding? What utter rubbish! Invariably I do not feed - unless there is a reason so to do - and if I do, the amount is not fixed.

Perhaps I should haver replied to the inital post with 'how long is a piece of string?'

RAB

 

[Hebeegeebee]

And in addition to PH's reply, It should be going already!

So I would say 'why feed it?' If there is a reason, by all means, but otherwise - no.

RAB

Surely the reason is to draw 5 frames out. If there is syrup, then the bees will get pollen instead. yes there is a limit to how much comb a 5 frame nuc can draw but to run the risk of a slow-down for a new beekeeper if forage is unavailable is not ideal. If the bees don't want the syrup, they won't take it.

+++++

Toby - don't allow the syrup to ferment if it's been on the hive for a long time.

 

[TOBY-3652]

Thanks everyone for the advice

 

[oliver90owner]

if forage is unavailable

I quite agree. But I do use my eyes and other senses before blindly following the rest of the sheep! I keep terlling you but you do noty read! The nuc should have enough stores for a couple of weeks of dearth. please get it into your head that I would feed IF NECESSARY. Simply that the decision is made on the available local data not over the internet two months earlier. Savvy?

The aim for a nucleus is to increase the colony numbers, not just to plonk on an extra 5kgs of sugar with no thought whatsoever. That is robot beekeeping.

RAB

 

[Mike a]

If you feel the need to feed then feed them but only small amounts and use a dummy board to keep them condensed and nice and warm.

14th June 2010

Had this swarm a week and they had built very little comb in the top bar hive so I fed them 4 pints of 1:1

2nd July 2010

Giving this swarm 4 pints was enough to help them get started building the combs for the queen to lay in and for them to store what they collected. Over feeding a colony with a galleon is likely to block the queen from being able to lay at a consistent rate and likely to make them honey bound.

Watch the bees at the entrance, if they land heavy they are probably full of nectar or water so there is no reason to feed them.

 

[oliver90owner]

Mike a,

It may also have been that they were trying to heat a mansion rather than a bed-sit?

There again, an amount of feed to a swarm can be beneficial, but not always necessary.

One swarm last year (not the largest I have seen), had seriously started drawing 4 of 6 frames of foundation overnight in a nuc box and had totally filled (nearly every cell used for brood or stores) a 14 x 12 box in three weeks. I would not normally feed a captured swarm for thee days anyway (so they would use up any food stored in their honeysacs) but the need is for eggs, not stores, initially. Not all swarms are collected within a few hours of them departing the old home. IF the weather has been foul for a couple of days or more and the swarm has been in the open, they may well need feeding shortly after hiving.

These are simple examples of observation and relevant feeding/manipulation. Everyone can do it.

The only thing one must do is err on the side of caution, but re-assess before continuing blindly.

Regards, RAB

 

[Mike a]

I completely agree. As for my comments on condensing them and what you see in the picture as a massive space, I was using a dummy floor and board to them confined to a much smaller space. In total they had 5 top bars to start with and by mid July I moved the dummy board back another bar. When filming them I removed both as this hive is far to big for a first year colony without using dummy boards.

I waited a week before feeding them. Hence why I wrote

Had this swarm a week and they had built very little comb in the top bar hive so I fed them 4 pints of 1:1

All I'm trying to do is show the good readers of this thread a little feed goes a long way to help them, too much will hinder them. So feeding pints is much better than feeding galleons during spring and summer.

 

[oliver90owner]

Agreed Mike. I didn't really expect you had left therm in a complete cavern.

The one sentence in your post which may have been lost, especially to the 'scanners' was "Watch the bees at the entrance, if they land heavy they are probably full of nectar or water so there is no reason to feed them." Some really need to observe what is happening with the colony, not expect an exactly definitive answer to a largely hypothetical question.

Regards, RAB