Ooops I titled this thread wrong...not sure how I can change it but my bees ARE NOT building new comb & I feel like they should be
I've got a hive that is about 1 month old - I purchased a nuc & converted the bars to fit into my top bar. I had no brood loss during the transition, it all went in very nicely. Since then, they have only build one full comb & nothing more. There is brood, some capped honey, lots of pollen in cells & coming in on the bees, some nectar & eggs in cells. The queen is robust & busy. There are very few drones. They have 4 combs that came with the nuc, plus the one they built, all straight & perfect. I have given them 3 empty bars to work with. Should I expand their area more, maybe they are feeling crowded?
I did find a queen cell but my queen is alive & well & doing good, I don't think they are in a hurry to make a new queen.
I am getting a little nervous, it seems they should be building more comb by now. There are a lot of bees in the hive & it appears their colony is expanding. It has been in the 80's for the past few weeks so maybe the heat is bothering them, although they are not really bearding so I don't know if heat is a problem.
This is my first year, any advice would be nice! I followed Les Crowder's hive plans so I think the hive is designed well.
I've got a hive that is about 1 month old - I purchased a nuc & converted the bars to fit into my top bar. I had no brood loss during the transition, it all went in very nicely. Since then, they have only build one full comb & nothing more. There is brood, some capped honey, lots of pollen in cells & coming in on the bees, some nectar & eggs in cells. The queen is robust & busy. There are very few drones. They have 4 combs that came with the nuc, plus the one they built, all straight & perfect. I have given them 3 empty bars to work with. Should I expand their area more, maybe they are feeling crowded?
I did find a queen cell but my queen is alive & well & doing good, I don't think they are in a hurry to make a new queen.
I am getting a little nervous, it seems they should be building more comb by now. There are a lot of bees in the hive & it appears their colony is expanding. It has been in the 80's for the past few weeks so maybe the heat is bothering them, although they are not really bearding so I don't know if heat is a problem.
This is my first year, any advice would be nice! I followed Les Crowder's hive plans so I think the hive is designed well.