Morning everyone!
Very new keeper here and really need some help by the sounds of it.
I installed a Nuc into a new Flow Hive, and the bees all left, besides approx 50 (maybe)
I bought a new Queen, the remaining colony seemed to accept here. Had my son check on the hive today and it’s empty again!
Any ideas?
Located South of the river in Perth.
You added a queen to the 50 bees that were remaining after the rest absconded?
You just need to start over with a new nuc/package or split.
Did the nuc have a laying queen and brood when you installed it?
I agree with @chau06 . Adding a new queen to 50 bees is just a waste of money & a good young queen. Oh, & welcome to the forum.
You’ll need to start again with a fresh colony, & don’t be shy on asking questions here. It’s better to ask questions, rather than to outlay good money after bad.
You’d need at least a couple of thousand young bees, with brood, in order to succeed with a new queen.
That is what I’m thinking - another Nuc.
Everything was going so well by the looks of the first.
great point - make sense now to have a lot of bees to add the queen to.
This is my second week with bees 
Hi & well done Peter. Beekeeping is a long learning curve, which never seems to end. You’ve learnt a lot in the last two weeks. Sadly, sometimes costly lessons are the ones we remember the most.
Hi Gieso,
It’s hard to tell from your post but did you install the nuc into the brood box only, or with the flow super added?
Good luck with your next nuc.
Hi Outbeck.
Yeah I did install an initial one, but due to timings, it seems that delays caused a lot of dead bees in the Nuc.
I wont put the blame on the supplier at all (I’ll be going back to the same supplier) as it was a mix up of timings wit austpost delivering the Flowhive/delay in picking up the Nuc etc…
Fingers crossed this one I’ll get on Wednesday will be it and I’ll have a happy thriving hive.
I’m a bit confused by your last message.
You initially installed the flow super when you transferred the nuc into your brood box?
Delay in what? Transferring the nuc to the brood box? Or delay in transporting the nuc?
I’ve heard that it is good to give a few days to a week after assembly and painting before transferring bees into a new box (I guess VOCs/fumes/off smells?).
But I am not sure after reading your message what happened. Maybe you were supplied with a good nuc but they overheated or something else happened before you transferred them to a new flow hive with too much space for them to occupy and defend?
In any case, glad you’re continuing your learning journey. Unfortunately sometimes a few (thousand/million) bees will be sacrificed in the learning process.
Make sure you read through a good beekeeping book or two, take a class of it is available, and find a local mentor.
Welcome to the forum. Hopefully you’ll continue to find helpful advice here.
I’m a bit confused too. It sounds like there was something wrong with your nuc hive prior to installing.
When you do install your replacement nuc hive into your flow hive, make sure your hive configuration is as shown below:
The hive in the foreground is how your hive should be started - with a single brood box. The flow super is added later (middle hive in the photo) when the bee population has greatly expanded and they have drawn the comb on all the frames and filled most of them.
