[Bob D]

After bears wiped out my hives at my house in NH, I took a year off and now I'm in Maine and restarting with 1 hive. So, my question is....

I know when you get a package of bees for a new hive, you don't add a 2nd deep until the 1st deep's frames are mostly "drawn out."

But, I got a nuc with 5 full frames that I inserted in an vacant hive that is completely drawn out. I took out 5 drawn out frames and inserted the 5 frames from the nuc. So, all 10 frames were drawn out when I inserted the nuc into the original dead hive about a week ago.

So, WHEN DO I ADD A 2nd DEEP (with 75% drawn frames in that deep too)?

Thanks!

Bob

 

[Andrew Dewey]

I wait a tad longer than most - I want to see the bees using 80-90% of the frames before adding another box.

Sorry to hear of your New Hampshire bear. Unfortunately we have them around here too!

 

[Rader Sidetrack]

Presumably the drawn out frames (those 'not from the nuc) were pretty much empty when you installed the nuc. So you could monitor those frames, and when 75%-80% of the 10 frames are being 'used' (pollen/honey/brood), its time to add another box.