Hi all,
So this is my second attempt at beekeeping (last year was a lot of fun but my girls starved right next to honey stores) and I've just installed two rather disappointing nucs.
I ordered two 5-frame nucs locally ($180cdn for each) and was fully expecting to have 5 fully drawn frames with a mix of stores and brood. [Propolis-Etc in Ottawa, ON, Canada]
Well, much to my disappointment I received 3 partially drawn frames, a frame of brood, and one completely barren, un-drawn frame with plastic foundation.
Much to my shock (and somewhat horror) is that the queens were not caged! I can only be sure that I have 1 queen at the moment!!
I saw the queen on the first nuc on the 3rd frame I installed (mostly full of brood which is reassuring). I was not expecting to find the queen running around the frames loose!!
The girls were quite busy in the air and I am still not 100% comfortable working amidst a cloud of bees, so I tried to quickly inspect the frames of the second nuc as I installed them, this time hoping to see the queen as I did on the first. (I was really expecting the queens to be in cages to be honest)
Well, that kinda sums up my feelings at the moment - I am a bit worried about hive #2 as I did not see a queen; I was not exhaustive in my search - should I do the queen-excluder search trick to confirm the presence of a queen?
Thanks for any help / guidance / comforting words
James
So this is my second attempt at beekeeping (last year was a lot of fun but my girls starved right next to honey stores) and I've just installed two rather disappointing nucs.
I ordered two 5-frame nucs locally ($180cdn for each) and was fully expecting to have 5 fully drawn frames with a mix of stores and brood. [Propolis-Etc in Ottawa, ON, Canada]
Well, much to my disappointment I received 3 partially drawn frames, a frame of brood, and one completely barren, un-drawn frame with plastic foundation.
Much to my shock (and somewhat horror) is that the queens were not caged! I can only be sure that I have 1 queen at the moment!!
I saw the queen on the first nuc on the 3rd frame I installed (mostly full of brood which is reassuring). I was not expecting to find the queen running around the frames loose!!
The girls were quite busy in the air and I am still not 100% comfortable working amidst a cloud of bees, so I tried to quickly inspect the frames of the second nuc as I installed them, this time hoping to see the queen as I did on the first. (I was really expecting the queens to be in cages to be honest)
Well, that kinda sums up my feelings at the moment - I am a bit worried about hive #2 as I did not see a queen; I was not exhaustive in my search - should I do the queen-excluder search trick to confirm the presence of a queen?
Thanks for any help / guidance / comforting words
James