Just got a new nuc from a local beekeeper here in Hawaii and I’m wondering if I proactively treat for mites or not. Should I wait and look for mite levels first? Want to get them on the best path to success. Thank you!
Personally I would let the nucleus get on with building out the full size box first. Once it is mostly full, and you are almost ready to add another box/super, I would do an alcohol wash or sugar roll mite count and treat before adding the new box. That way you don’t have the complications of treating with a super on the hive, and you let the bees build up some numbers before you do a fairly invasive inspection with a mite count.
Thanks @Dawn_SD! that makes sense. Wasn’t sure because when I was chatting with the guy I got them from it sounded like he treats his hives a lot. He’s more commercial and mostly raises queens. Will look into how properly perform an alcohol wash and sugar roll test. Really appreciate the advice!
Alcohol wash is much more accurate, but it kills the bees. Potentially disastrous if the queen was in the counted population! So be careful not to scoop her up when you do it.
Sugar roll is much less accurate, but it doesn’t kill all of the bees. You can still easily damage the queen with a sugar roll, though, so check thoroughly.
I prefer the alcohol wash, and that is what most universities and professionals recommend. You are only killing ~300 bees, and by the time you do it, the hive will probably have 15-30,000 bees.
Just checked my hive to make sure they accepted the new queen and was able to find her and she looks ok. Wasn’t able to see any new eggs or larva but hopefully she starts laying eggs soon. No beetles or mites that I could see but I’m sure some mites are hiding.
Also saw this which i’m not sure exactly what it is. Maybe a queen cell? It’s on one of the original frames from the nuc I got. I just left it there for now and was thinking of checking on it in a couple days.
It could be a queen cup (play cup), which nurse bees like to make just for fun. If it is not sealed, nor charged (filled with sticky white royal jelly), it is not a true queen cell. In order to make viable queen cells, bees need access to eggs or larvae which are less than 3 days from hatching.
I know that a new hive is very exciting, but every time you open it, you set the bees back. I would try to leave it a week before going back in. Even if that is a real queen cell, you should have at least that much time before you need to do something.
They look pretty short of food on the frames that you photographed. Are you feeding them, or is there plenty of honey and pollen on other frames?