How do I hive my Nuc of bees?
Roger
Last Update 4 years ago
So, you've just got your nuc of bees from us. Your Bees will consist of 6 frames containing honey stores, pollen and all stages of brood - eggs, larva and sealed brood.
The bees, or the hive they have been bred from has been treated for varroa in the Autumn/Winter. We currently use Thymovar and Oxalic Acid.
1. Take the Box of bees back and position it in the same position the hive will be in (stand the hive to one side if necessary)
2. Open the entrance to the box and let them settle down from the journey for about at least ½hour, you can wait til late afternoon/early evening too.
3. Move the nuc box to one side
4. Position the hive in its final standing position and remove the roof, crownboard and 6 frames from the middle of the brood chamber.
5. carefully remove the lid from the nuc box & gently puff smoke across the top of the frames.
6. Starting with a frame on the edge of the box, gently lift each frame out of the box and position it in your hive in the same order (it should be honey on the outside, brood and eggs on the inside.
7. If there are any bees left in the nuc box, shake or brush them into your hive.
8. Replace your coverboard onto your hive (remove the porter bee escapes from the board)
9. Place your feeder over the hole in the crownboard.
10.Put an empty super around the feeder and then replace the roof.
Remember to keep an eye on the feed. If you are using new frames, with undrawn wax foundation (which you should be!!) they will be getting through the feed fast and you will need to keep supplying them until ALL the frames in the brood box are drawn out nice and evenly. Only then should you stop feeding and put your first super frames on top (if you do it too early, you will struggle to get the brood frames drawn out as the bees are more likely to move upwards)
Please note that your colony could expand fast and fill out the brood box quickly. The number of bees will also increase but dont panic!! Please refrain from splitting your colony into multiple nucs as this is very stressful for the bees and could be detrimental to the colonies health. We highly recommend that you let the colony expand fully for the first year.