Is our Nucleus Expanding Sufficiently?

[BeeJayBee]

I have heard stories of very weak Nucs being sold, in some cases for a lot of money to un-suspecting new beekeepers!

Same here, and some with a lot of varroa.

 

[Beverlyp24]

Is response to your question regarding the nucleus purchased, it was from fragile planet.co.uk, details as follows:

5 Frame British Standard (National) Nucleus with a Buckfast Queen with brood eggs, flying bees.
Despatched from June 2014 - dependant on the weather

Bees are treated for Varroa before despatch

 

[YorkshireBees]

Is response to your question regarding the nucleus purchased, it was from fragile planet.co.uk, details as follows:

5 Frame British Standard (National) Nucleus with a Buckfast Queen with brood eggs, flying bees.
Despatched from June 2014 - dependant on the weather

Bees are treated for Varroa before despatch

Yes but what did the 5 frames contain on arrival?

The 6 frames Nucs I despatched this year consisted of 4-5 frames of BIAS and 1-2 frames of stores with virtually no spare space left when they were collected.

In a 5 frame Nuc I would expect minimum 3 full frames of BIAS and more possibly 4 with a frame of food??

 

[Fatbee]

Beverley,
The first nuc I ever purchased came with a high varroa load despite being told it had been treated and struggled a little to build up until I got on top of it. So might be worth putting a screen in if you have a mesh floor for a week to see if there is any mite drop. It's not a perfect way but likely to give an idea. FERA do a guide on managing varroa and mite drop levels..
Did the supplier tell you what they treated with?

 

[Bosleeu]

Hi,

We are new to beekeeping and acquired a nucleus of bees in late June.

We are learning fast, but not fast enough... and have a few concerns which we would be very grateful for any input and advice on:

1. We cant find the queen, though there are lots of larvae, so we think she must be there somehwere!
2. Our biggest concern is that there is sufficient expansion to enable the bees to get through the winter. At present, within the 12 frames in the brood box, four a re full and two have some bees on them and the beginning of frame being built. The remaining frames are empty. We have one super on top which is also empty at this stage.

Please could I ask, what speed of expansion should we expect to see and should we be concerned about there being sufficient bees / honey to keep them going through the winter please?

Many thanks for any advice, we would be very grateful!

Just wondering how the Nuc is doing?

 

[La Folie]

Am I missing something or has no one mentioned feeding the colony with no stores? Yes reduce size or insulate the bb but without stores they are not going to make it through winter.