[umchuck]

hey there everyone, I happen to be a newbie, but one thing I have going for me is I have been studying everyday for a year, didn't even get nervous with first nuc install, I had seen it done a thousand times, I need help finding good-blue color queens here in Pa. near Hbg. this nuc I got was to be ready and when I opened up today, they didn't even have all the frames drawn out yet, it was cloudy so I didn't get to check for eggs, but was capped brood and a lot a nectar, very little pollen, that's was has me worried, cant raise young with out pollen, so was thinking about re-queening in a week or so, Close to me is Bjorn Apiaries, seem like a good outfit but I don't know, so a lot of help would be really great, and advise is well taken also, thanks
umchuck

 

[virginiawolf]

Welcome to Beesource....Here is someone in PA that I would trust to have good queens. Bjorn seems like a good one also. I haven't bought from either one but I intend to get some bees from Varner's. I know that they have bees that are PA survivor bees called pollinators and I have been interested in them for a while.

http://varnersbeefarm.webs.com/

 

[umchuck]

thanks, they are pretty close to me also, I will check them out I'll check them out
rand.

 

[Rader Sidetrack]

Welcome to Beesource!


The lack of stored pollen in that nuc may not have anything to do with the bees themselves (or the queen). It may be that the frames in the nuc were recently pulled from various hives, and the person assembling the nuc simply wasn't concerned about pollen stores.

I would wait a bit to see more how they do before deciding that replacing the queen will be worth the money. Saving up those dollars and acquiring an additional hive (especially if you only have one currently) may be a better use of those funds.

 

[umchuck]

Yea I going give a week or so at least, been raining and cloudy I think the nuc was a bit light to begin with, don't see many foragers flying about, and yes I do have another hive ( 2 deeps)
randy zone 7a

 

[AmericasBeekeeper]

Welcome!

 

[umchuck]

UPDATE bought 2 queens last week here in pa, they were ready on Tues, mailed out on Wed and I got them today, so bottom line is, requeened both colonies today, the double deep had 20 frames, all pollen, nectar and honey not one capped brood, It did have on 1st inspection, no queen cups (go figure) so they were taking to her right away, laid the queen cage on top of the frames, and left it there for 15 minutes, then went back and could easily brush the bees off with my little finger, nuc colony same condition except they had a queen cup with larvae in it, I had given them a frame of eggs from a package I had installed