I put a nuc out in a tree. Its close to an area where there are several feral bee hives in irrigation boxes. I think the irrigation boxes are too small and those hives seem to be swarming quite often.
Anyways, within a week of putting the nuc up, a swarm appears to have moved in and I am seeing quite a bit of activity.
When is the best time to move the swarm over to the hive? How long do I wait?
Thanks! The nuc they moved into is a new 5 frame nuc, I put two new frames with wax foundation on either side, 3 foundation less frames in the middle. Put wax on the top bar. Put a cotton ball with lemon grass oil inside and swiped the entrance with lemon grass oil. The nuc is strapped down & together and in a hard to access spot on a slope, so I can’t really casually go check the inside of the nuc to see what is going on, but I can peek insde from right angle maybe with a mirror on a stick.
The nuc is located in a business park, its 3 miles according to Google maps to where I intend to set up the hive. What is the 3ft or 3 mile rule?
Considering the time of the year and the small feral hives in the area, I would think this is a virgin queen. Definitely not the big swarms I sometimes see in the area in the spring.
I will wait until they build up some more.
Aiming to put a short video clip on youtube over the weekend.
1 frame with foundation on each side, 3 foundationless frames in the middle. There are no empty frames, sorry that was not clear.
At this point I am planning on letting them build up for a couple of weeks then move as you indicated. To be continued!
the setup is like this:
1 new frame with plastic foundation
3 new empty frames, no foundation, a wedge top bar treated with wax
1 new frame with plastic foundation
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I have a couple of colonies on their own drawn frames and I find they draw more evenly if they have a guide. So that’s a foundation frame alternated with a starter strip…to start with.
Dear gentleman
I am just a beekeeper leaner, a new hand ,I would like to know what is the ‘nuc’
Hi Valli
I am in Hong Kong, it is close to main land China, I have 3 hive of bees, just few days ago, two of them are run away, those bees was buy from China,because of it is attacked by Wasp.
KC
Hi KC, a nuc is a starter colony of bees of around 4 or 5 frames covered in bees with: a young queen, or: frames of brood where the bees are able to make a new queen. It’s advisable to start with a nuc at the start of spring to early summer so the bees get a chance to build up their colony before winter. I advise to use full sheets of foundation on the frames based on my own experience.
Short for nucleus colony
I moved the bees with the trap to my backyard and did an inspection: it is a small swarm, maybe 150 bees or so, I saw the queen. The bees drew two small pieces of comb (one the size of a hand on the foundation, the other is about the size of cookie hanging from the adjacent frame), a handful of cells looked like capped brood. I am feeding them sugar water for now. They seem more active now, I see more bees around the entrance, and bees coming and going.
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Hi KCAU,
I am also in Hong Kong and just received my flow hive!
Could you kindly tell me where you purchased your bees from? Did you order it online?
Let’s connect if you like since we are both located in HK!
Thanks,
Marc
Hello, there.
What happened with these. I’d love to know
Hi Dear MarcR
If you are living in HK, You can call me on 91287459, so we can discuss this matter
KC
I just whatsapped you 
Made some mistakes: feeding the bees caused robbing, the swarm being small & weak as they were got annihilated 
that’s a shame, have started another hive?
yes, I bought a hive that is doing good and also been catching more swarms in the same area, but I have hard time, so far one of the swarms is in my flow hive and doing well, the other swarms, the seem to not want to stick around… not sure why, either too hot, or maybe they don’t like the (newer) paint on my hives.