not drawing out comb

[johnandyrob]

Picked up two nucs about a month ago and re hived them into nationals with foundation every thing looks ok but one nuc hasn't drawn any comb out and the other has only drawn one side of a frame is this a problem?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Must be very weak nuc's....have they got laying queens.

 

[Midland Beek]

Have a look around you. Not much 'income' if there isn't any Himalayan balsam about. And if there isn't the 'income' comb will not get drawn.

Feed. Do it with care because you do not want a wasp or robber bee problem.

 

[johnandyrob]

The Queens are both laying every thing looks ok and have been feeding and thir is plenty of traffic in and out notnmany wasps around I destroyed two nests in the last couple of weeks

 

[BKF Admin]

If you have a queen then I can only put it down to:

Flow (but you say you are feeding them).
Temperature (I would of thought even Durham is getting good temps).
Stale comb (very rare that the bees will not draw comb even when its years old)
not enough bees to draw comb out(or do they have to much room ? they will go backwards if they have to much comb to draw in a large space as they get demoralised)
Illness (about the only other reason I can think of).

Looking back at your original post I think it is because they were put into a full hive to soon and they are thinking the foundation is the hive walls,use a dummy board and see what happens.

 

[johnandyrob]

Good point may be to much room ill try a dummy board and see what happens had that much advise on re hiving all different that lost sight of what was happening Many thanks