Installed my first nuc

I just installed my first nuc of bees and it was so cool. The girls were so calm that I did not even have to smoke them. But what was even cooler was the fact that my 5 year old grandson was their to help me alongside my wife as well. I think it is so cool that he is excited. We now have a hobby that we can learn about together. He is a little excitable so we were not sure how he would be but he was very calm and very inquisitive. Thanks flow hive this is a lot of fun.will send pic as soon as I figure out how.

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How do I attach a picture

Hi Chris, what I do is take a photo with the phone camera, email the image to my own email address as an attachment and then drag it across to the post I am typing - it then becomes an attachment to that post.

A lot of people do what @Dan2 described. Personally I start a new message, then click on the 7th icon from the left above the text entry window. It is a sort of bar with a little arrow pointing upwards out of the top. That brings up a menu which lets you select the photo and up load it to the forum.

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Dawn,

I’m still learning to post pix’s ! Do you believe me on that one ? If so I have property on the moon I want to sell you :grinning::+1::exclamation:

Been working with my niece Sam. She just bought four baby chicks. We put them in with my setting hen. Tonight she has them under her wings.


Sam’s watching them thru a hole in the side of the lower coop. Tomorrow I will pick up my four Nuc’s at 08:00 n get them home. I’ll let them settle couple hours before transferring. My neighbor is coming over to help. He’s never done this before. I’ve got an extra suit for him so we are okay.

Cheers.
Gerald

Nitie nite.

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Just a point. You seem to have split the brood by checker boarding the frames? The nuc frames should be kept together with the frames in the same order you got them. Too few bees to keep the brood warm spread out like that. Sorry if I’m mistaken

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Hi Dee, I read where I was supposed to do install as you are saying but I chose to install like Cedar’s wife did in the beginners video. Take a look at that and let me know what you think. I can change it if you think I need to. Thanks Chris.

Hi Gerald! Love your pix. We did the same thing some years ago with a broody hen - we got three baby chicks & my daughter and her friend went out at night and snuck them under the hen…when the hen (her name was Whoopi) first noticed the girls she started making a warning cluck, but as soon as she felt & heard the chicks under her, her sound changed to a sweet, low & soothing cluck. It was such fun to watch her raise those chicks!

Don’t mean to digress though - @Chrisb53 well done with your first nucs! I’m reading up again as I get ready for my next attempt, so I appreciate your post & everyone’s replies! My nucs arrive on 4/29.

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I’m going to have a newbie guess as to why @Dee’s method would be different from Flow folks’ - they live in tropical or nearly-so Australia, and Dee lives in slightly less tropical Wales. You’re in Missouri as I recall, right Chris? I confess I don’t have a clue what your temps are like this time of year, just that if they are still going down below 70 or so, Dee might be right about keeping the brood frames together.

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Well, I’m going to see how this checkerboarding works out

Yes, keep us in the loop.
I wouldn’t dare do that even in a poly box

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These gals started working the minute they got placed in their new home.:slight_smile:

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Kind of cool that they let me get this close to take pictures.

So exciting Chris - it’s great to watch their activity! I notice your entrance is not reduced at all. Usually with a small colony starting out its more helpful for the bees if they don’t have to worry about a large opening to defend against intruders, so it’s good to block off all but a 2 or 3 bee width space.

Also, it will cut down significantly on cold breezes that could chill your brood at night, with your frames checkerboarded. Your daytime temps might be fine, but nighttime usually gets a bit colder where you are, right?

If that’s a Flow brood box you’ll have to make a reducer out of something handy, like wads of grass or paint stir sticks. Standard ones don’t fit because of the slope on the landing board. If not you can buy one at your supplier.

Anyway, the best thing to do would be to check with an experienced beekeeper in your area. Keep the updates coming! Cheers :blush:

Thanks Eva, I bought an entrance reducer, will have to modify it to fit. I’m surprised that flow doesn’t have an entrance reducer that fits their hive. Come on flow!!

Hi Eva, I customized an entrance reducer that I bought. It has a little larger entrance than a 3 bee wide hole but is a lot better than nothing there.

Forgot to attach photo of entrance reducer.

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Nice work Chris! My reducer is just a stack of stir sticks :sweat_smile:

Now that I have installed my first nuc and entrance reducer, and I’ve observed that the bees are bringing in tons of pollen, how soon and how often can I take off the cover and inspect the hive? And how fast do you think that the girls will have this brood box 80% drawn and ready for box no. 2 ??

Hasn’t been very long yet…too many factors involved to make any worthwhile predictions. Weather, forage, queen laying rate, bee health…

But I’ll take a stab at guessing why you’re asking this already - you’re excited for that first taste of honey :blush: