frenzy at door of nuc

[Cuckmere couple]

nuc made up of 2 frames BIA and a couple of shakes of bees 4 days ago...hope theyre orientation flights rather than robbing

• no fighting but it was only full of nurse bees so no real guard bees anyway
• no sign of cappings on floor as evidence of raiding the 4 frames of capped stores, but its a poly nuc with fine mesh and grass isnt short enough to really check

hmmm...will have to check when next suited up

 

[Boston Bees]

Fighting, or just frenzy?

 

[Cuckmere couple]

no fighting, but i guess no real guard bees in a newly made up nuc of nurse bees

just a significant 'holding pattern' of bees queuing to access

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

no sign of cappings on floor as evidence of raiding the 4 frames of capped stores,

Why four frames of stores - I only ever give them one frame of stores, so two would be a luxury.
The nurse bees will quickly switch over to guard duties, it doesn't have an age limit so I wouldn't worry too much about that

 

[Cuckmere couple]

because i had plenty and wanted to offload it rather than store to be honest

hope its not robbing

 

[Boston Bees]

because i had plenty and wanted to offload it rather than store to be honest

hope its not robbing

Easy way to find out - close the entrance tonight. If there's a horde of bees waiting outside tomorrow morning .....

Agree with JBM re food. One issue you have given yourself is that the nuc is immediately honey-bound. Bees need something to do (i.e. a frame to draw wax on) and space to store incoming nectar/pollen in, otherwise you will have issues.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Before now I've had to move a nuc into a full size hive even before the queen had started laying as it was so packed full of honey and pollen.