Newbie beekeeper here! I’m based in Georgia, but originally British. I lived in Australia for nearly ten years, which is where I fell in love with the idea of having Flow Hives! Now we live on 100 acres and I’m finally getting to turn that dream into a reality. After weeks of preparation, building and painting my hive and getting all of my practice in, I’ve just finished trasferring a nuc of bees (from a local beekeeper) to my very first hive. Generally, everything went smoothly and to plan - I just had questions on a couple of things I observed.
A few dead bees - there seemed to be some bees left at the bottom of the nuc box (after all the frames were transferred to the hive) that looked like they were just standing completely still. The bees on the frames were generally calm (it’s also a cooler, cloudy day here) but I worry that these bees were dead. Is it common for some bees to die during the transfer process?
Water droplets on the tops of the hives - there were some water drops in the bottom of the nuc (from some light rain) that went into the hive when I shook the remaining bees from the box. A few droplets were sitting on top of the frames once I was done. Will this be a huge issue, or will the bees be able to use this as a water source?
I will keep you all update on how we go. I’m anxious that the bees won’t take to the hive/found the transfer too traumatic, but keeping everything crossed for a good outcome!
Hi Ben, it’s nearly impossible to transfer bees from a nuc box, especially if the nuc box is coreflute, without killing the odd bee. There will also be the odd bee that died of old age, depending on how long the bees were locked up for. Therefore it’s quite normal to find some dead & dying bees left behind in the nuc box.
Don’t be at all concerned about a few water droplets, the bees will take care of it.
I never shake bees while doing a transfer. What I do is transfer the frames of bees into the brood box, while making sure the queen is accounted for, before closing the brood box up, before placing the nuc box on top of the brood box, so that the rest of the bees will find the entrance, which they always do.
Hi & you’re welcome Ben. I see that the bees came in a coreflute nuc box, which I dislike with a passion.
I sell nucs & I get customers to bring their brood box to me, so I can transfer the nuc straight into their brood box. Then I pack the frames so they can’t wobble during transport, which results in next to zero casualties. I always hate it when customers bring coreflute nuc boxes for me to put their bees into.
I can’t tell what orientation your picture is taken - looks like of like the comb is beautiful but maybe not straight?
Make sure you check on this and fix it (if necessary) early. When the comb is unattached and new and soft you can just push it straight and the bees will fix any damaged areas.
Sorry, the angle of the photo doesn’t give a great perspective. They’re actually building directly down from the top of the frame: another photo below where you can see a little more clearly!
Thank you for checking in! The first year has been and adventure with lots of highs and lows - I lost a hive over winter sadly. Not an issue of starvation as I was able to rescue honey from the abandoned hive - they just all left!
However, I had an original hive that swarmed (and I was able to capture) so that hive is going strong.
Heading into Spring and summer with two strong hives and the bees seem to be getting the flow frames ready for the impending honey flow!
