[bandjhoneyshack]

I picked up my hive Saturday night that had just been installed with a nuc. I took it home then moved it about 80 yards yesterday. I removed the screen cover that keeps the bees in (during transport), then I put an entrance feeder on it. My question is, should I have waited on the feeder and put an entrance reducer in first for a few days? The bees are flying like crazy and they've already finished off 3/4 of the quart of sugar water.

 

[Michael Bush]

You can always reduce the entrance if you suspect robbing. I would take the feeder off the entrance and put the jar (and the feeder if you like) over the inner cover hole. Either put the jar right on #8 hardware cloth right on the hole, or fill the remaining space with rags to keep the bees from filling it full of comb.

Entrance feeders are notorious for setting off robbing.

 

[bandjhoneyshack]

I don't know much about robbing or beekeeping in general as this is my first hive. My main concern was the number of bees flying around the entrance...I didn't want them to fly away and was thinking that I should've put an entrance reducer on instead. Roughly how long will it take them to draw out the remaining frames before I can put the honey super on?

 

[Michael Bush]

There is no way to predict what a package will do. It also depends on the size of the box, how much you feed, the flow etc. Generally in an eight frame medium box I check in them in two weeks. In a ten frame deep you can wait at least three weeks and probably four. But at four the population will sometimes start to explode.

 

[tsmullins]

This time of year, I would not feed a nuc. The nuc should have came with stores. Like the other post er said, entrance feeders cause robbing.

The 80 yard move could be an issue. Did you notice a lot of bees returning to the original site?

 

[bandjhoneyshack]

No, but I also didn't open the entrance where they were at first. There's been bees flying everywhere today so I guess that is a good thing.