How long for a Nuc/Colony to settle in?

[thedozzer]

Looking for some advice, i was given plenty of good advice about what to do over the next few days with our 12 x 14 Nuc from Vortex, but forgot to ask how long and what is normal behaviour when letting them out in their new area.

I placed the Nuc on top of the hive we hope to move them to last night (both poly) as it was suggested that we gave them at least one day of orientation before moving them to the main hive.

Changed the travel lid over to the normal lid on the Nuc and opened the entrance this morning a 5:30 just before the thunderstorm arrived and they did seem a bit feisty, but since then they have calmed down, there was a lot of activity at the entrance to the hive at first with lots looking lost, and they have be flying into their intended new hive accidentally all ready, then going back to the Nuc after a couple of mins.

Now they are returning to the nuc with legs full of bright orange pollen, there is 10 -15 bees coming and going from the hive at all times, is this normal?

we are going to put a Miller feed on top of the main hive with some 1:1 syrup to encourage them to draw comb, but what else is good advice to help them settle in apart from just letting them get on with it?

 

[Millet]

You would be better of moving the full hive out of the way as you will be confusing the bees, plonk the nuc on the hive stand where you want the hive to be.. leave them alone for a few days then move the Nuc to one side and put the full hive in its place.. then move all the frames out of the nuc slowly and place into the center of the full hive in the same order you take them out of the Nuc.. while slowly doing this make sure you find the Queen on one of the frames as she could be on the wall inside the nuc..after you have done this fill the rest of the space with drawn or undrawn frames and leave them alone for a week or two..

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Five minutes is enough time for the nuc to settle at a new location before transferring them into a new hive - returning foragers is a sign that they have settled and oriented.
Get them into their new home now.

 

[thedozzer]

Ok there seems to be a difference of opinion on how many days, but when i do move, is it best to swap the frames from the Nuc to the hive in the morning or the evening?

and i didn't know that bee keeping was supposed to be so stressful, i have 8000 little lady's to worry about and one of them is Key to everting??

 

[Millet]

As Jenky say's do it after 5 minutes but i personally like to leave them a few day's which causes no harm what so ever.. mind you the thunderstorms we are having i would leave well alone till they have past..even a day after a thunder storm the bees can still be a bit touchy and the last think you need at this point of starting your new hobby is to get hammered from bees in a bad mood.

 

[Murox]

Ok there seems to be a difference of opinion on how many days, but when i do move, is it best to swap the frames from the Nuc to the hive in the morning or the evening?

and i didn't know that bee keeping was supposed to be so stressful, i have 8000 little lady's to worry about and one of them is Key to everting??

Beekeeping is only as stressful as people make it. You have sound advice from Millet and Jenk.......already. Morning or evening is up to you. Evening will mean most of the bees and foragers will be at home. Have a thought for the local weather at the moment.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

is it best to swap the frames from the Nuc to the hive in the morning or the evening?

doesn't really matter, but doing it in the morning or early afternoon gives them plenty of daylight to settle and orientate after the transfer.
I always do them in the morning as it's usually a case of close up the nuc late in the evening before and put in the truck ready for transferring the next day (so you don't want them cooking away in there too long), drive to their new apiary in the morning, put them in their new location, open up the entrances, potter around the apiary for a few minutes (if there are no other hives to inspect), transfer them to new hive, then back home for a late breakfast

 

[thedozzer]

Beekeeping is only as stressful as people make it. You have sound advice from Millet and Jenk.......already. Morning or evening is up to you. Evening will mean most of the bees and foragers will be at home. Have a thought for the local weather at the moment.

Ok Stressful may be the wrong word, just wanting to do right for them and not wanting to make mistakes as they are more my partners than mine, (Part of her birthday) would hate to bugger things up before she gets back!! i am more used to working dogs and other animals that require a bit more direct input.

Will see how the weather goes before doing anything.

I have so much to learn

 

[thedozzer]

Quick update
took heed of peoples advice and did the nuc to hive move yesterday afternoon when the responsible adult got home, before the storms arrived in the evening.
The girls settled in quite quickly in, are coming back with lots of bright orange and white/yellow pollen to the hive, pretty much ever 3rd bee has pollen, have put 2 empty boards with foundation in, one in the middle and one at the end, so am going to give them a few weeks to see what they do, but they look like they are finding plenty of forage, but there are 2 rivers, a railway line, quite a bit of rough open fields and 3 allotments quite close.

 

[thedozzer]

I have found a new hobby, sitting abut 8ft away from the hive and watching their behaviour, but this has brought abut a few more questions of probably hundreds,
1. how do you recognise robbing? as there appear to be some bees that turn up at the entrance that the others bash and bop out of the way? one of ours that are an orangey yellow body with black stripes had a black bodied with grey stripes leg and looked like it was try to kill it? they are vicious little buggers!

2. does high wind bother them as its been gusting up to about 40mph here and wondered what wind speeds do they stop flying, or do some just get blown away?

sorry if these have been asked before but couldn't find answers using search function.