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Help with new nuc

3K views 2 replies 1 participant last post by  Dan Hendricks 
G
#1 ·
13 days ago I received my new queen and placed her with 4 frames of capped brood and workers on those frames. (two frames from two different hives) I put the frames in the body 2 days before I received my queen. She has now been freed 10 days.

I see her on a frame that has drawn comb, but I do not see any new eggs. How long does it take for her to decide to start laying?

I have noticed that some of the bees seem to be fighting. It looks to me like they are picking on young bees. Also, I do not see many workers bringing in pollen.

Should I add two more frames of capped brood with workers to increase the population or let it build on its own? Are they going to continue to fight? They are drinking 2 quarts of sugar water in 24 hours.

I want to do what is best for the survival of the hive.

Thank you for your help.
 
G
#2 ·
Ten days of freedom and no eggs? Give them a frame with some eggs on it, to test. If they start building cells, the queen is no good. Unfortunately it happens, even with good queen breeders, though I think it happens more often with the cheapo breeders.

Does she show any signs of injury? Tattered wings? The bees may have injured her, or she may have gotten injured in transit. Too cold or too hot in shipping could also damage a queen. Feeding syrup is a good idea, especially when bees are from more than one hive. That *should* help their disposition.

But you might close down the entrance some. If they are fighting on the comb, it's a good possiblity that bees are entering from another hive to rob the syrup.
 
#3 ·
Hi, J & L. It is absolutely imperative that every colony, no matter how small, be able to keep out robbers and yellow jackets. For my solution to this problem, address <pugetsoundbees.org>, click on Resources, scroll down to and clik on Forum, scroll down to "Reducing Entrances in Summer".

I think it is hard to understand what is going on in a hive if they are being overwhelmed by robbers. Dan
 
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