What if you are housing a nuc into a hive? The queen is in lay. Plus if the bees see there is space to lay they are less likely to want to swarm.
I have done it 50 years. No problem.
Housing nuc? What special in that?
Nuc means that there are few frames.
If I have 4 frames of brood and bees are emerging, I put into box a movable wall. Then I add one foundation.
Bees draw the foundation and then I add more. When hive has 8 frames, it is quite a big and I may add 2 foundations.
The idea is to keep stored low that nuc has maximum space for brood
This is only way to help the nuc in expanding. Feeding makes things worse.
To feed a nuc in the middle of summer leads to catastrophy. It swarms.
It is quite usual that bees get honey stores every summer. I do not remember any summer that they do not get their food from nature.
Small hives and nucs are sensitive to nectar flow. They will be stucked in few days. Cold weather is bad to the small colony.
When the hive is too full food, I put nuc frames to the bigger hive and give empty frames instead. No idea to keep stores in a small hive whole summer around.
To a beginner lonely 5 frame hive is a big problem, and to me too. Where I put those stores? In spring it is not problem because they do not get too much food from nature. But now...
One solution is to get a swarm and make the hive bigger. One box hive is able to handle better nectar flow. Another solution is to bye one brood brame, two or tree.
But in this case weathers are bad, bees are starving and the hive is stucked with sugar. I call this complication. I wonder if even in UK bees are starving in June.
I have just now a mating nuc which has one frame. It is full rape honey.
The queen is allready swollen. I take the frame off and I give a frame of emerging brood instead. Then I move the nuc to the 4 frame nuc.
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