any advice ??????

[captahab]

Heres my dilema,Ill make it short and sweet as I can. I have two 8 frame hives A+B. I purchased two 4 frame nucs 16 days ago. Both hives are taking very little syrup. Hive A has drawn out one side of my frames. Hive B hasnt drawn any of my frames to comb yet. Hive A developed Chalkbrood a day or two after placing the nuc. Hive B is weak, there isnt as many bees in it as hive A.
There are eggs and larvae and some capped brood in hive A. there is very little capped brood and no eggs or larvae in hive B. I have been able to visually locate the queen in hive A. I have not been able to visually locate a queen in hive B. The beekeeper I purchased the nucs from suggested I re queen Hive A and get a new nuc for hive B.
My questions are for anyone out there.
1. Should these bees be taking alot of syrup after 16 days?
2. Is it worth killing the queen in hive A to cure the Chalkbrood or should I just let them work through it.
3. Could both these hives just be slow starters and should I just give them a little more time to fill out there boxes.'
4. Could I have a virgin queen in hive B and maybe she just isnt laying yet
5. Does the beekeepers advice given to me sound accurate.

Thanks Everyone.............

[iddee]

The poor excuse for a beekeeper you bought them from is accurate, but I would sure find a new source to buy them from.
In truth, he should make it right after that short a time, and at no cost to you.

[captahab]

This guy has been keeping bees since 1980.He did offer to replace the nuc with the Chalkbrood in it and give me a queen for the weak hive.
Im new at this and I didnt need the headaches of trying to fix problems with new hives.I guess its good experiance for me and I will never buy
anything from him again.Live and learn.

[MustbeeNuts]

Well as much as I agree with the statements above, I wouldn't burn my bridges either. You never know. I would take the other nuc, and queen but inspect it for lots of brood and eggs first.  Keeping bees has its challenges, but off the gate it does suck, at least they didn't leave totally. I assume you would keep the poor one too. And yes I would look for another source around you. Perhaps even a little drive wouldn't hurt if you had too.

Both nucs should have had eggs and brood in full swing when you got them, they would have just made more when they moved to the eight frame. OR you could just get your money back and try to find a couple GOOD nucs. OH and a location in your profile might help, someone could point you to a good keeper around your area.

[captahab]

The one nuc had more bees and brood in it then the other.I should of visually checked them before I placed them.
Its just both n ucs never expanded into my other frames.It was like time stood still with them.I have a neighbor about
three miles from me who started with packages in April and he already has added a honey super to each hive.His equipment is
teaming with bees..The only diffence between our hives is he uses Boardman feeders to feed and I use the styrofoam top feeders.
Im just trying to get them built up and thriving.Maybe I was better off starting with packages.At least I knew what I had.Maybe
I wouldnt of had the Chalkbrood either.

[TwT]

is your bee's working the top feeder at all?, doesn't sound like it, I would except the nuc and queen also and try to get these hive going or you just might loose them and this whole year will be a waist of time and money.

[captahab]

There working the top feeders very little. I made a total of 2 gallons of syrup per hive.
The weaker of the two hives consumed about a gallon. The hive with the Chalk and more
brood took about half a gallon. This is during a 17 day stretch.Im just really confused as
to why these bees arent taking the syrup. I dontr think its anything Im doing,so I assume
it was the nucs I purchased. I intend to re queen the hive with the Chalk and combine
the new/free nuc with the weak hive. Does this sound right to you guys ??????

[justgojumpit]

I would combine the two weak nucs and requeen at the same time.  Then start off fresh with the new nuc.  I would also say to shake the bees out of the chalkbrood hive in front of the weak hive.  You don't have a lot of brood to lose by the sound of it, and you don't need to continue working with the fungal spores in the chalkbrood hive.  That is probably what is slowing down that hive.  I would discard the chalkbrood combs, but not worry too much about the frames.  You can pass a torch over them if you like, but that might even be a little overkill.  We're not talking about AFB.  Chalkbrood is more of a nuisance and slows the bees down, it will not usually kill an otherwise healthy hive unless it goes full-blown.

justgojumpit

[captahab]

How would everyone feel if I were to combine the weak nuc with the new nuc.That would fill out
my first deep and the add a second deep on top of it?? My thinking with that is at least I would(at least I hope) have one strong hive.Then just re queen the hive with the Chalkbrood ?  The Chalkbrood hive was doing alot better as far as eggs and brood was concerned then the weak hive. All the suggestions posted for me has been very good.Im just trying to get the easiest fix since I really dont know what Im doing yet or looking at for that matter.

[MustbeeNuts]

The easiest fix would be to get replacements, a good nuc should blow away a package. and if you let too much time get away from you,, well  seasons short in PA.  I like the idea of a combine. and requeen the one I might steal a frame from that new nuc and put in the chalk brood one, bees and all, that whould help them out. I don't think you need to add another deep right away, let them fill up the first deep good first. all the frames but one. then add the second, too much space is worse than not enough, you can add the second as soon as they start to hatch the brood. Hope it all works out for you.

[captahab]

Thanks to everyone who replied with this.I appreciate all the opinions I can get.