Jacques Ransford
New Bee
- Joined
- Mar 24, 2024
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- Mansfield
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 1
Expert ? That's worrying isn't it ?The expert beekeeper who brought the nuc to us put it straight in the hive. We could only go with her judgment.
Well if she was delivering a nuc and wanted her boxes back, and you only had a full-sized hive it's kind of understandable. It would have been nice if she had suggested dummying down.The expert beekeeper who brought the nuc to us put it straight in the hive. We could only go with her judgment.
Ain't that the truth!Patience is the hardest skill to learn
Fair comment.I think you can stop feeding for now, drawing comb will be the last thing they will do in these temperatures, if you carry on feeding they will take it down and pack it into any available space before drawing any more comb - and that means you are depriving the queen laying space, and brood needs to be the priority at the moment.
Jacques, you've been sold a pup.should I be concerned that they’ve not moved onto the new frames?
Now we get to look at the other side of the coin: it is fair to say that while you have been sold a poor nuc, the question is, why did you buy it?Not sure what the cells are in this picture. Could anybody help identify them?
Sadly, we are probably shutting the door after the horse has boltedJacques, you've been sold a pup.
The photos tell a dismal story, that you have at best 2 or 3 half frames of brood, and that with a sketchy brood pattern; the other frames are partly honey and partly empty. There is hardly any pollen, without which bees cannot rear brood. One frame of drawn comb is empty!
A good nuc would have solid slabs of brood on nearly all of about two frames, with another four frames holding more brood, pollen and honey. The box would be stuffed with bees and raring to go; as it is, you have been sold a colony that will be unable to draw foundation in that brood box, and would be hard pushed to do so if it were put back in a nuc box.
Take the advice given so far and reduce the nest volume; if it were mine I would put it back in a 6-frame poly nuc, put the frame of drawn comb next to the sealed brood (in which the qiueen will lay) and put the stores frames on the outside.
Bees are expert controllers of nest heat and humidity and cannot hope to begin to manage in anything other than a small space; upgrade to a brood box only when the bees are rammed in the nuc. The first photo was taken today and took me by surprise; I'd better get a move on and put them in a BB tomorrow, before they decide to swarm. The second shows another nuc ready to be upgraded to a full brood box.
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The third photo shows a frame of brood covered in bees, and the last, another frame which has had the bees shaken off, showing a decent frame of sealed brood. In the top left and right corners you will see sealed honey, and between it and the brood is pollen in variety. You will, of course, expect to see what is known as BIAS: brood in all stages.
Now we get to look at the other side of the coin: it is fair to say that while you have been sold a poor nuc, the question is, why did you buy it?
Have you attended a beginner's practical training course? I doubt it, because you would then have gone to the expert beekeeper's apiary with the ability to assess the nuc before buying; the course would have taught you to recognise BIAS, sealed and unsealed stores, pollen and much more. Moreover, your trainers would quite likely have had good nucs to sell to you, and back-up to support you.
In other words, your innocence has landed you with a sub-standard nuc, and unless you propose to make a fuss about it to the seller, you must make the best of it. Get it back into a poly nuc, feed it 1:1 slowly until it has a strong foraging force, forget about honey this year and begin the long journey to get the colony strong for next winter. In the meantime, sign up for a local beginner's course and check out these links:
Buy this: Haynes Bee Manual
https://www.youtube.com/c/BlackMountainHoney
https://www.youtube.com/@TheNorfolkHoneyCo/videos
http://www.dave-cushman.net/bee/textlinks.html
I don't follow what you mean Pargyle.For all we know it may be a timber box, with gaping holes in the crownboard and probably no insulation ..
Good point; Jacques wil need a couple of these, and to paint them: https://www.bshoneybees.co.uk/polynucyou only had a full-sized hive
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