First Hive Questions

[Chrisd4421]

Hi all,
     My hive is now 4 days and going strong (I think).  here is what I see right now:

• 1 quart of 5:3 syrup per day so far
• steady flow of bees coming and going
• Ones coming loaded down with pollen

I am waiting until this sunday (day 9) before I open the hive up.  I started this hive with a 7 medium frame nuc from NJ - put into 2 mediums, 4 frame in the lower box, 3 in the upper - going foundation-less.

The following are questions that I have at this point:

• Do you look for the queen specifically or just for existence of a queen (i.e. laying patterns)
• Are there any tricks to locating the queen?  Being a new bk, I am not too confident in my abilities
• Is a good rule of thumb to add a new brood box (a medium) when I only have 2.5 frames or less empty?

I have so many questions but at least this is a start!!!

Thanks
Chris in NJ

[John Schwartz]

I am waiting until this sunday (day 9) before I open the hive up.  I started this hive with a 7 medium frame nuc from NJ - put into 2 mediums, 4 frame in the lower box, 3 in the upper - going foundation-less.

My opinion that it's a bit premature to add an extra box at this point. Am I understanding you correctly that you split up the 7 frames into two boxes? If so, that sounds bit unconventional and would be something new to my ears. :)

The following are questions that I have at this point:

• Do you look for the queen specifically or just for existence of a queen (i.e. laying patterns)
• Are there any tricks to locating the queen?  Being a new bk, I am not too confident in my abilities
• Is a good rule of thumb to add a new brood box (a medium) when I only have 2.5 frames or less empty?

At a minimum, your first fun task is to look for eggs being laid which will indicate a queen. It won't be required to find her and this is a learned skill that takes some time and patience. Give it a year or so and you'll start to find her fairly quickly, depending on how much time you spend checking hives.

[Kathyp]

unless i have a need to find the queen, i never look for her.  i often see her, but that just comes from experience.  as long as you see eggs or very small larvae, you are good.  no reason to dig around.

once you see/find the queen, observe the behavior of the bees around her.  when you are familiar with the behavior, she will start to jump out at you (visually) when you later inspect.  very often you will find her on the frame with the youngest larvae/eggs.  sometimes you'll find her on frames that have bees hatching out as she'll be filling the empty cells with new eggs.

you are fine adding your box at this time of the year.  they will build up more quickly in the spring and you will do no harm with a medium on there.

addition...lotsobees and i read your configuration differently.  i am talking about 2 boxes.  i would not add a 3rd right now.

[John Schwartz]

addition...lotsobees and i read your configuration differently.  i am talking about 2 boxes.  i would not add a 3rd right now.

Kathy -- in your experience, is splitting up the frames of a new nuc into two boxes advisable for some reason?

[Chrisd4421]

lotsobees,
    When I picked up the NUC, it was the instructions I was given - I hope all works out and come this weekend, I will take pictures and let you know what all looks like

Chris

[Kathyp]

I'm sure it will be fine.  unlike a package, the numbers in a nuc will go up, not down.  i probably would have just set the nuc over an empty medium, but moving frames will probably do no harm as long as there are sufficient numbers to cover the brood.