[stdavis]

Last Saturday I caught my first swarm which was good sized and filled my 10 bar (Les Crowder sized) nuc. And when I say filled, I mean that when the weather is warm, and they are festooning they fill the inside of the hive with only a small pocket in the bottom of one side. I've heard that being crowded is good for a newly hived colony so I wasn't worried about it. I haven't inspected the hive at all yet. I've just been looking in the observation window. However, last night about a 1/2 cup of bees were bearding on the entrance and they are still there this morning. Should I be worried about that? I also saw my first comb through the window last night and some of it doesn't look straight. So I think that I'm going to inspect the hive today or tomorrow. My question is: is it too soon to transfer them to a full sized hive with a follower board? I'm a little scared to since I had a package abscond from that same full sized hive last week. However, I'd really like to get them moved to give them a little more room and to free up my nuc for catching another swarm. What do you think? Too risky to move them on day 7 or 8?

 

[Rader Sidetrack]

I think if the swarm has built comb its reasonable to move them to a bigger hive.

But, if your TBH has an open screened bottom, I would find a way to close it off before you move the bees. Beesource has plenty of reports of newly hived bees absconding from open screen bottom TBHs.

If you feel the need you can always open the bottom up after they are more established.

 

[stdavis]

No screened bottom board. Thanks for the reply.