Getting nucs the first week of June... am I the last?

[BeeCurious]

Because of weather, shipping, and time constraints I'm not receiving my nucs until the first week of June.

Could I skip feeding since I'm hiving the nucs in June or should I still "welcome" the bees with an initial feeding?

I hope there is some advantage to having held off getting the bees.

Any comments?

[BjornBee]

You are not the last. I have orders into mid/late June, and right now am delayed about two weeks. An afternoon shower or a springtime thunderstorm is one thing...but all day downpours and steady rain with temps in the 50's are hard to get much done. And even if I can get out, driving into some of my yards, or make that "driving into some of my swamps" can really tick off the farmer with ruts in the mud.

It rained here, all day Friday, half a day Saturday, yesterday all day till 3 pm, and today is the good day with 30 MPH gusts, and temps in the high 50's. BUT NO RAIN! YIPPEE! Now if I could persuade some queens to go out and mate... ;)

No need to feed nucs now till the dearth starts. They will just store more nectar in areas that will inhibit the queens area of egg laying.

[JohnK and Sheri]

>>> An afternoon shower or a springtime thunderstorm is one thing...but all day downpours and steady rain with temps in the 50's are hard to get much done. And even if I can get out, driving into some of my yards, or make that "driving into some of my swamps" can really tick off the farmer with ruts in the mud.<<<

This year was a nightmare for getting bee work done all across the northern tier. We still have lots of bees in the holding yards that should have been moved out to the summer yards, but too wet. I hate to think of the disaster if we had queens needing mating. The weather is just turning though, so the East should be close behind.
The plants are all late here as well, so with the warming weather the bees are just getting started. They don't work much either when it is rainy windy and cool. In a year like this one, it is better to let the producer babysit them through the rough weather. Your bees were building slowly there, they were better off and they will do fine once you get them.
Sheri

[Dan Williamson]

Nope you aren't the last. I had people buying nucs from me in July last year. I will be offering them again this summer for those interested. Personally I'd rather wait for a quality nuc if an earlier one might have been rushed or stressed... or even a queen that wasn't properly mated due to poor weather.

Earlier isn't always better.

[MichaelW]

I had good luck last year putting sugar water on immediately at the end of the flow and continuing comb building through the summer and filling out the colonies. I don't worry about feeding new colonies during the flow, but if you let them go a month through the summer dearth then try and get them building comb again it won't work, you have to make it continuous after the flow.

[BjornBee]

Ok, I was wrong. It did rain today. And the wind most of the afternoon was around 40 mph, not 30. But it did hit 62, late in the day, but too late for much queen flying.

Maybe tomorrow....Oh, wait....more rain coming tomorrow. Can't wait for that next phone call.... ;)

I may actually need to start feeding some of my 3 frame medium queen nucs. They are getting down to near starvation. This sucks.

[peggjam]

We didn't clear 55 degrees today, and had a brief snow storm. Wind all day, rain last 3 days with temps in the lower 50's. We're gonna be two weeks behind, if not more.:(