"I got a 5 frame nuc about June first and for 6 weeks they didn't draw out any comb."
Southern [Kalamazoo] Michigan, June 2010. [probably including Ypsilanti]Close enough, we have had more rain than normal
“This year we had rain 20 days out of the 30, twice as many rainy days as usual, and when it did rain, we got a lot of rain,” Hackman said. He tallied 9.25 inches in his National Weather Service rain gauge tube on Ninth Street, making this the second rainiest June he’s seen in the 56 years he’s been tracking weather. “1978 had 10 inches of rain, but 7.5 inches fell in two days that year,” Hackman said. > http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2010/06/dry_july_rainy_june_leaves_ple.html
Too much rain and cool weather will inhibit bees in comb building and foraging for nectar and pollen; raising brood. Younger bees of the right age for wax secretion.
Other missing information:
Did the nuc start with an already mated queen or a capped queen cell?
Mated, laying Queen
Did you put them in a 10 frame box with plastic foundation or wax foundation?
I put them in the middle of a 10 frame box with 5 frames of plastic foundation (thats what I had, the hive body was given to me with plastic foundation frames)
Did you feed sugar syrup in the beginning or did you wait until you took out the undrawn foundation and added the foundationless frames?
I tried feeding the sugar syrup, but the really didn't take much of it so I stopped.
Did the nuc supersede the mated queen at some point?
Not that I can tell, but I don't know enough to be able to figure it out. We haven't been able to find the queen, but every time we open up the hive and look we see eggs, or at least think we do. Of course if someone cannot spot a queen can they really tell there are eggs?
I am glad they eventually built the comb.
Me Too, I found it exciting