First inspection

[red rambler]

Heading out Saturday to check my two nucs that were installed two weekends ago.

My Dad reports the bees are really active. Is it reasonable to think that three of the five deep frames are beginning to fill out, do I add another deep with a queen excluder, or add another deep for brood, then when that one is mostly full, add a super for honey? Just don/t have a concept of how quickly a might develop.

Thanx!

[Wally]

I would carry a deep just in case. I would also leave the excluder at home.

[red rambler]

Got it. It will be interesting to see what is in bloom and what is happening in the new frames.

[Kurt Bower]

I agree that for the first year or so that it would be best to not use a queen excluder. Unless you are active in the management, this could discourage the bees full potential.

[thegreypony]

Read your post and just felt compelled to see how your bees are doing. We also installed 2 nucs 2 wks ago. I was really worried about 1 as it just didn't seem to be as active as the other. I've been feeding sugar water in top feeders and worrying b/c of the AFB situation but our mentor checked both of them 2-3 days ago and says everything looks great.

We're in 8 frame English garden hives from Brushy Mtn. Nucs are in a deep box and the stronger hive is bursting at the seams. We're adding a medium tomorrow and hopefully will be adding a medium to the smaller hive in a week or two. It was GREAT for our 8 year olf daughter to suit up and be able to identify what was in the cells...she even got to see 3-4 bees emerging... very cool.

Thanks Kurt & Wally for all your help!!! Red Rambler I hope your hives are doing well!

[red rambler]

Pretty certain I was able to identify the queen in one hive. Saw larve, honey, pollen, and sealed cells.

I believe the other hive is queenless. Saw honey, pollen cell develpment but no brood.

When I opened my nucs, several of the frames had dropped off the ledge that was supposed to hold them off the floor of the box. I was very cautious when I removed the frames from the nuc box. Worked from one side to the other so as not to "roll" the queen.

Looked like what might have been a queen cell on one of the frames today in the one I believe to be queenless. Should I remove a frame of brood from the other hive and install it in this one? And/or should I just install a new queen? Or do both?

[Kurt Bower]

Assuming it just went queenless recently...
If you have a queen cell started, why give them a frame of brood?
I think requeening if possible is still the best option.

Kurt

[red rambler]

Sceniero one, wait 21 days for queen to mature, mate, and start laying.

Sceniero two, requeen immediately to minimize impact on hive growth.

Is a queen available though members of GBA or do I need to go a more commercial route? If I go the requeening route, do I need to remove the existing queen cell in order to not deal with the possibility of losing two queens.

You know you really learn only when you have to apply your understanding,
figuring out what you don't know is the challenge.

Thanks!

[Wally]

There is a list of suppliers under the for sale forum. You can try calling a few of them. Some are close enough to drive over and pick up a queen, if they have them ready.

[red rambler]

Did a second inspection yesterday between raindrops. The hive that I was not able to locate the queen with no brood is thriving. Eight of the frames are being worked the remaining two had bees on them. Added a med. super to this one.

I was not able to really look in the other one due to a heavy shower that hit just after I opened the hive. I need to look into this one. Not nearly as many bees in the other one. Both hives have been foraging on their own with no feeding. Tulip popular is beginng to bloom in Alexander Co.