I always restrict the opening of a new nuc when placing it in an existing yard to prevent robbing. Learned the hard way what robbers can do when they killed out two nucs with my just purchased queens. Now I do it regardless just to be safe. Better safe than sorry.

psisk

 

I wouldn't worry, just set they up and let them go. Robbing usually occurs when a strong hive finds a weaker one during a dearth and you should not be in a dearth right now.

 

Thanks both of you. The bees in my first hive are coming and going rapidly, they are busy as heck. I'll put the reducer in at the 4 inch wide opening on the new hive. I'm wondering if I should remove the reducer altogether on the first hive, its gets pretty crowded at th entrance form time to time.

 

>Should I be concerned about robbing, or drifting, or anything else for that matter?

If there is a flow it shouldn't be a problem with robbing. Mine are all touching and I'm sure they drift. But it's not a problem. If you don't mind, it doesn't matter.

 

Well, I don't mind if they don't. Thanks for the response. When we went to our club's field day all the hives were right next to one another too and all were actively going about their own business. I was more concerned that one weaker hive would be a natural victim for the more established hive. But they are only about a month apart. Looking forward to installing them when I get home this evening.

Thanks!

 

Hello Irmo. I've always put a new hive next to an existing hive. No problems yet. One thing I do (or my 11 year old daughter does) is paint pictures on the front of each hive. I don't know if it really works but in my mind I think it helps them orient themselves to which hive is theirs when returning from foraging.

Jim