Very excited...I picked up my first 2 nucs yesterday here in NC and installed them. We are having a 'cooler' than usual spring so it wasn't as warm as I would've liked, but I think everything went okay. I can see that there's a real art to manipulating frames but although invariably squishing a few bees, I think I'll quickly get the hang of that. I was able to observe both queens and lots of new eggs and larva (thank God for marked queens - I don't think I'd have had much luck finding them as a new beekeeper, but will work on those skills.
I resisted the urge to immediately add a 2nd brood box and am going to wait until they've drawn out the 7th or 8th frame - so many conflicting opinions no matter how much you read about when and how to expand the hive. I like the idea of swapping out frames 7/8 for the 9/10 frames to try to force them to draw them all out, and then putting a brood frame in the added 2nd deep to encourage them to start working the 2nd brood box - so I'm going to try that method I think... I am starting with plastic foundation that I've added beeswax to so we'll see how well that works. I'm going to keep a top feeder on continuously this first season and see how things go. I am in tulip poplar country here, they grow everywhere, so I'm hoping for good things. I have a large vegetable garden and numerous fruit trees and black and blueberries galore in my yard, but understand that what you personally provide isn't necessarily all that relevant, it's more about the surrounding area. I do have one question. I was only partly successful in keeping my smoker lit, but even with just using a bit of smoke my first time, the bees seemed amazingly calm. It made me wonder if smoke is really even worth the effort/trouble? Other than being a little more agitated, what's the worst that can happen if you don't use smoke routinely?
I am thankful to have found this forum - I run a Washington Redskins forum that's very similar to this one, so it's a very familiar and comfortable software. And I can already tell this is a great community. Wish me luck! Going to open the hives again 4 days post-install and see how things look
I resisted the urge to immediately add a 2nd brood box and am going to wait until they've drawn out the 7th or 8th frame - so many conflicting opinions no matter how much you read about when and how to expand the hive. I like the idea of swapping out frames 7/8 for the 9/10 frames to try to force them to draw them all out, and then putting a brood frame in the added 2nd deep to encourage them to start working the 2nd brood box - so I'm going to try that method I think... I am starting with plastic foundation that I've added beeswax to so we'll see how well that works. I'm going to keep a top feeder on continuously this first season and see how things go. I am in tulip poplar country here, they grow everywhere, so I'm hoping for good things. I have a large vegetable garden and numerous fruit trees and black and blueberries galore in my yard, but understand that what you personally provide isn't necessarily all that relevant, it's more about the surrounding area. I do have one question. I was only partly successful in keeping my smoker lit, but even with just using a bit of smoke my first time, the bees seemed amazingly calm. It made me wonder if smoke is really even worth the effort/trouble? Other than being a little more agitated, what's the worst that can happen if you don't use smoke routinely?
I am thankful to have found this forum - I run a Washington Redskins forum that's very similar to this one, so it's a very familiar and comfortable software. And I can already tell this is a great community. Wish me luck! Going to open the hives again 4 days post-install and see how things look