We had a first year nuc hive swarm last friday and caught swarm and put in new 10 frame hive box; we have been using top feeder. They have consumed over two gallons of 1:1 sugar water so far. I checked hive for first time yesterday and they have drawn at least some comb on every frame and at least six frames are fully drawn out with varying amounts of honey (evaporating sugar water:)) stored. Lots of bees on every frame but I did not see any evidence of eggs laid yet and no larvae or capped brood present. Since all the frames have drawn comb I'm assuming there is a queen present. My question is should i put another hive body on top to allow for more frames to be drawn out or wait for capped brood and capped honey to add a second hive box?
ps it was pretty large swarm;
Mis-read the post. I got nothing, sorry.
QuoteSince all the frames have drawn comb I'm assuming there is a queen present.
this is not evidence of a queen. swarms are comb building machines.
i would not add until you know you have a laying queen. they will not run out of room because no laying means no expansion. it will be easier to check for eggs/brood if you do not have a second box on. as soon as you know you have a good queen, you can add. you may need to pull some frames from the 1st box into the new box because while they are waiting for the queen to get going, they will be filling comb with syrup and pollen.