[Lummie Joe]

So I'm a 1st year beek. I received 2 nucs the second week of May. One nuc is doing really well. I've already had to put a second brood box on and they are drawing comb like crazy in it. The second hive, no so much. The only fully drawn comb are those that came with the nuc. The Queen is laying where she can but the workers are filling every empty cell with nectar and pollen. They have drawn out a small bit of comb but in what looks like a mountain range. Nothing solid or in a pattern that would be useful. I fed both hives until last week. I placed an empty frame and foundation towards the center of the hive with no luck. Ive changed out a few frames, again with no luck. The frames and foundation are the same for both hives. Should I go back to feeding? Should I take a few frames that are partially drawn from the second brood box and put them in the smaller hive? I'm at a loss and not sure where to go from here. Any suggestions would be great.

 

[rwlaw]

If they’re backfilling the cells, no don’t feed anymore. My ole bud and mentor always told me “do not let the bees tell you what to do, your in charge”.
If your one colony is doing well, can you sneak out a frame that’s started to have comb drawn out? Once the queen lays in a few cells I’m betting they’ll be on it like white on rice. If they start wonky comb scrape it off till they get it right. Spritz foundation w/ sugar water to draw them to it.
Lastly you might a imbalance of foragers/house bees, foragers do not have the ability to produce wax the way the house bees do. Might have to wait them out till the balance is restored. This is my knowledge of it. Good luck!

 

[AHudd]

I would take a frame of capped brood and a frame of drawn comb out of the strong hive and put it in the week hive. Just make sure you don't get the queen.

Alex

 

[Lummie Joe]

I placed a full frame of capped brood from the strong hive to the weak. Waiting on them to hatch right now. I'm going to let the stronger hive draw the frames a little more and swap them to the weak hive. I only call it weak because it's smaller. The original 5 frames are covered in bees.

 

[AHudd]

Sounds like the smaller nuc is set to catch up. If your Queen doesn't have anywhere to lay, I would give her an empty frame of drawn comb if you can. It doesn't even need to be fully drawn. She doesn't need to slow down her egg laying.

Alex

 

[Michael Bush]

Some of it is genetics. Some of it is spacing. Frames should be tight together in the middle.