[AdamBeal]

So I have 2 nucs that I am supposed to pickup this Saturday. A couple of days ago I put out 2 empty hives to get ready for the nucs but I only put in 5 deep frames (2 on one side of the hive and 3 on the other) and left a 5 frame gap in the middle for the nuc frames. However today a swarm moved into one of these hives. I would like to keep the swarm but I feel like I should open it up and put in another 5 deep frames soon before they start building off of the top cover in the empty middle. How quick would you open it up and put some deep frames in? Should I do it now or wait till tomorrow or later? I would prefer not to have to cut comb as that is a mess but don't want to drive them off either by disturbing them too soon (if that is possible not sure). Thanks for the advice.

Adam

 

[odfrank]

ASAP

 

[Riverderwent]

Now.

 

[Gray Goose]

So I have 2 nucs that I am supposed to pickup this Saturday. A couple of days ago I put out 2 empty hives to get ready for the nucs but I only put in 5 deep frames (2 on one side of the hive and 3 on the other) and left a 5 frame gap in the middle for the nuc frames. However today a swarm moved into one of these hives. I would like to keep the swarm but I feel like I should open it up and put in another 5 deep frames soon before they start building off of the top cover in the empty middle. How quick would you open it up and put some deep frames in? Should I do it now or wait till tomorrow or later? I would prefer not to have to cut comb as that is a mess but don't want to drive them off either by disturbing them too soon (if that is possible not sure). Thanks for the advice.

Adam

I would the minute I noticed the swarm. Likely they have an inch or 3 of comb already, maybe next time center the comb until the NUC arrives, odd thing to do but lesson learned. Hopefully they picked one side and "most" of the activity is in the 2 or 3 frames, and there is little to remove. congrats on having 3 hive from the 2 NUC order.
GG