Newbee installation and questions

[mdax]

Just installed my first two hives yesterday from nucs into 8 frames.
The bees are super gentle and didn't come after me at all.  I'll probably use a jacket/hood for most activities in the future and will try without gloves for the fist inspection.

I'm in north florida so the bees should have a happy winter however most books and sites don't really address starting from a nuc so late in the season and I had a couple questions.  

I started the bees on a top feeder with 1:1 sugar/water ratio to help them get comfy at home as well as a small slice of megabee/hbh.  At what point would ya'll remove either or both?

I was planning on installing medium supers once 7 out of 8 frames were built up, that ok?

One of the frames had brood and a queen cell.  Should I be concerned about that?

I will be going to the beekeeping meeting next week and am reading everything I can.

Here's a short video my wife took of me installing a few frames.  If you see me doing anything goofy please feel free to post suggestions or scathing responses.  I love hearing all sorts of viewpoints.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOpnhNshvKk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOpnhNshvKk

Thank you

[Michael Bush]

>I started the bees on a top feeder with 1:1 sugar/water ratio to help them get comfy at home as well as a small slice of megabee/hbh.  At what point would ya'll remove either or both?

I would remove the megabee now before the small hive beetles eat it and never buy any again...  I would feed syrup until they have some capped stores.

>I was planning on installing medium supers once 7 out of 8 frames were built up, that ok?

6 or 7... somewhere in there.  They may build pretty quickly.

>One of the frames had brood and a queen cell.  Should I be concerned about that?

Assuming only one queen cell and assuming it has  larva in it (in other words it actually IS a queen cell) and assuming you have a queen, then it would be a supersedure cell.  I would not worry about it.

If it's just a cup (no larva) then it means nothing.

If there is no queen and it's an actual queen cell (has a larva in it) then they are repairing their loss but it will set them back a couple of weeks and the seller should probably give you a queen...

[mdax]

Thanks for the response.
I just found your site and will read everything there.

I was told that using the plywood top cover without a screen top would be good for this area with the megabee as the bees could clean up any hive beetles.  I'm going to remove the food though as I thought it was necessary to give the hive a good chance of being happy/healthy.

Once I get 7 frames and install the medium super should I continue with water/sugar?

There is so much information for beekeeping, some of it contradictory that it's hard to figure out which camp/folks to listen to and which to not...

[Moots]

There is so much information for beekeeping, some of it contradictory that it's hard to figure out which camp/folks to listen to and which to not...

mdax,
Welcome to the forum, you are quite right with your above observation...There are few if any definitive absolutes in beekeeping when it comes to doing anything the "right" way.

As a beginner I will say this, Michael Bush is regular active participant on this forum, He's extremely knowledgeable and well respected, when conflicted on what to do, personally, I'm very interested in knowing what he thinks.

However, at the end of the day, you have to find what works for you and do things in a way that you are comfortable with.  I gather information and opinions from anyone willing to give them, then make a decision that I'm comfortable with, move forward and don't spend a lot of time second guessing and beating up myself over decisions I've made.  They will either work, or they won't...Either way, I file it away and use it as part of my decision making process for the next time a similar problem presents itself. 

Lastly, don't set the bar too high.  Understand that no matter what you do, you will have hives that will not make it, it's part of being a Beek, Get used to it.

Good Luck!  :) 

[Michael Bush]

This idea of feeding pollen substitute when there is pollen already available is a new one and with SHB around, a vary bad one... but it's a bad idea anyway.  The bees will raise short lived bees on substitute.  They will do better on real pollen, and they usually won't even take the substitute if the real thing is available.