Ok, here's the situation... One week ago I hived a swarm-it was quite large but not bursting at the seams. I put them in a five frame nuc with four drawn frames and on undrawn. They will fill it quick but I don't mind. Four days after they were hived I found eggs and in the week gone I've fed them almost 2 liters of 1:1 syrup. In the past few days I've found bees on the landing board late at night even if it's only 5oC outside and the guard bees seem quite skittish-almost in attack mode. What's going on? This hive stung me on the nose the other day when I was about a metre from the hive. Is it because they have been without brood so long they're really defending the new brood?
What kind of feeder are you using? They may be defending the syrup.
I was using a ziplock bag with some holes sitting on top of the hive - not ideal i know - i would have sooner had it inside the hive or atleast a jar through the lid - but it worked ok. It would make sense that they could be defending the feeder although i didnt see any robbing... i've since taken the feeder away as they've taken 2 litres of syrup and there are some eucalypts flowering in my area so they can get off their lazy butts and go find it hahahah (just joking). When i last had some syrup there though they were eagerly taking it - i wonder whether i should drill a hole in the lid and put a jar feeder on top
I would go ahead with the hole idea. You will probably want to reuse this nuc for other swarms in the future and will be facing the same situation. Make sure their entrance is reduced also unless it is very warm.
JC