First Inspection. I think they are turbocharged

Beekeeping - Basics
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First inspection completed. 4:00 PM. Sunny and 72 degrees. Barely a breeze.

When I moved the nuc frames into the Flow Hive2 3 weeks ago, I added 4 empty frames. Three of the 4 are now 100% full of comb or close to. New comb is mostly white and empty still. The fourth was just getting one started. They have been very busy indeed. LOTS of capped brood waiting to join the hive soon. Did not see the queen yet again. But saw evidence of laying (eggs, larvae). A lot of nectar. Some honey in a original frame.

I looked for any queen cells or any other unordinary cells. All looks clean to me upon inspection.

No pests really. There were ants on top of the inner cover. The inner cover still had the plug in it so they did not get it. They weren’t building but carrying eggs in there into a pile. I think I just caught them getting started. I bumped them off and went about my bee business.

Bees were lively but not extremely aggressive. They were not impressed with my intrusion but did not give chase after I finished with inspecting. Fair enough. At the pace they seem to be going I am already nervous about splitting sooner than I thought!

I expect another couple weeks I can add the honey super. What does the chat think?

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I think you might give it another week and super that hive! Ask around to find out if experienced beeks in your area are supering to make sure, but I bet they are. You describe a colony that is nearing 90% full of comb, bees, brood and some honey/nectar - as soon as those workers emerge a new wave of foragers (former nurses) will be ready to go.

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What’s the consensus in your area of single brood box vs two? (If thinking about two, I’d get that started while the girls are in wax making mode and get as many frames drawn out as the girls are obliging to draw out).

sounds like you have a healthy start​:+1:

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After a little over a week, I inspected the hive again and the frames are filled in now all the way across. The ants were nowhere to be seen this time. I absolutely have more bees now holy cow. It was crammed in there at 12:30pm! They were extremely active. MANY bees carrying pollen into the hive dispite it being so early and the temps have dropped considerably. Everything seems to be going incredibly well so…honey super is now installed. Big day!

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