First Inspection of the Nucleus after Installation in it's Hive

In this ongoing series of video's for the beginner beekeeper I take a look at the newly housed nucleus colony that we placed into it's full sized hive approx. seven days ago in our allotment apiary.

In this series of video we aim to help the beginner beekeeper by setting up an apiary from the start of the 2017 season and establishing a new bee hive by selecting a nucleus colony as if we had purchased it and following it's progress through the entire season.
Week by week we will show you all you need to know about making your first season in beekeeping as simple and as straightforward as possible.
Check out the playlist for all the previous videos.

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[mulle]

I just got my first nuc yesterday 😊 and really appreciate how you don't talk down to us newbies, nor do you make it seem like it's so easy any idiot could do it. Practical and informative.

Thank you.

[jeffreyrumpf]

Wonderful! I checked mine today shortly after I watched this video. The bees seem to like the way you work your hives. I try to do the same. So far so good! Thank you once again.

[rsignals]

Excellent video (as always) Stewart - you're running about a week ahead of me, which is perfect!

[leebromham-nichols]

Watched this a couple of times now. My first inspection is later today. Thanks for this.

[lynbrown]

Hi Stewart, I did my first inspection today after moving from a nuc last week. Very helpful video, thanks. Just wondering approx how long can it take for the bees to draw out the empty frames? Wanting to be being prepared for the addition of the first super...
Many thanks

[mikeyharris]

Hi Stewart, absolutely loving your videos. I've just ordered a full colony that I'm expecting mid July. I'm hoping that by getting a full colony they will be established enough to get through the winter. Anyway, just wanted to stop by and say thank you for your videos, they are fantastic (I'm even watching them whilst being away on holiday in Portugal 😄). One quick point though, this video doesn't appear in your Beekeeping Basics 2017 playlist. Looking forward to the next instalment 😀

[eyeman]

Great video
I would add a dummy board into that space- just in case I forget and they fill it with brace comb- I'm sure you will add one later.
Did the queen cup have an egg or larvae? If it was just an egg then I wouldn't have worried as these are mostly removed by the worker bees and don't necessarily signify swarm preparations.
If you put some insultation into your roof (50mm kingspan) and close off that second feeder hole your colony will build up that more quicker. If using open mesh floors there is no need to leave feeder holes open when not in use.
Keep up the good work

[dobe]

my 6 day old hive has had a 2nd brood box added to give the queen plenty of room, there was no sign of swarm cells when I changed them over, plus there was sealed/unsealed brood and plenty of stores... yesterday around 20 or so drones had been tossed out of the hive, anyone know why this might be? tia

[Misolina]

Fab video. We've just put our 2 nucs into proper hives. Our mentor has told us to do this in a slightly different way. We transferred the 5 nuc frames and instead of filling the rest of the hive with frames (we're using foundationless although he doesn't know this as he'll likely go a bit bananas), he suggested we add them one at a time at weekly intervals, always leaving one of the original nuc frames on the outside edge.
We'll be doing our first inspection this weekend. I've been watching the hives from the outside every day and it's utterly fascinating. I enjoyed watching grooming behaviour, nasanoving and drones coming and going this afternoon... Magical.
I was reading the other day that removing queen cells won't stop bees from swarming if they've already decided to. What are your thoughts on finding queen cells and how do you know if they're just messing about and experimenting or really planning to go AWOL??

[capailldubh]

Thanks for these videos. Do you not block the second hole on the crown board to stop bees going into the roof space? Can you put the roof resting on the feeder or should you use an empty super box to house it?

[sokkaleo]

You added pollen substitute when you transferred the Nuc in the prior video. But it was gone when you were doing your “first inspection”. How long would you recommend keeping the pollen in the top?

[Ctec]

With the Queen cells. If there is larvae in them what do you do? I'm very new, does this mean the bees may try and swarm if a new queen is made?

[kevinoconnor]

Hi Stewart. Love the videos. On the nuc I received the bees had extended the comb below the frames. Should I remove this or is it ok to keep? Thanks again.

[robertwalker]

frame five from the nuc. would you look to moving it out of the hive as it looks a bit of a mess and may hide a queen cell in side.
or in time will the bees make it uniform. but

[philkirby]

hi Stewart, why are they making queen cells when they have plenty of room? thanks Phil

[Animallovingpermie]

That nuc doesn't look ready to swarm, to my untrained eye. why then would it have several queen cells? also, and this probably sounds silly, but do you usually get stung when messing with the hives?

[lindashawcross]

Enjoyed your video! Brand new to ready to inspect my first hive tomorrow  after installing a nuc  last week. I was curious what type of feeder you are using. Also, should you always destroy the supercedure cells?

[paulsutton]

Excellent video as ever.

i have two poly nucs, each with about 4 frames of capped brood.

Im currently planning to add nuc extensions to them both and keep feeding to try to build up hoping they will have some flying bees for june. Am i better concentrating on one and adding a frame of brood to that one from the other and move into a full brood box?

I want to try to have a strong colony and to keep the other going too (1 year old queens) but i fear theyre too small as they are to take advantage of summer flow etc.

Not on facebook or would place there...apologies

in hope...

Paul

[ArtGardens]

Great explanation, as always thank you . If the queen is lost will they be making another queen?

[nickyhartley]

HI Stuart - Great video again! AT what point would you start thinking of adding a super on top of that brood box?? Thanks