New nuc with ashforth feeder

Hi brand newbee bee keeper here and I’m worried about my girls settling in.
We collected a nuc 3 days ago and put them into their flow hive later that day, sunny and warm day. When we got them they had a syrup solution in a horrid mouldy plastic container that was just lose on the nuc crown board. The guy told me to feed them as they were just establishing. I have an ashforth feeder that I poured to half full with ambrosia syrup and put some bits of wood as floats to stop drowning! When I put it on a couple of bees went down to it. The weather since has been cold,even though it’s June, under 16 deg. I peeked into the top of the ashforth feeder today to see if they were taking the syrup and no, not a one. Is this because they don’t need it? (they were all over the manky plastic one but they had been shut in I suppose) Or am I doing something else wrong?
Also I realised only today that when I put the frames in next to the nuc ones I forgot the comb guides! Will this be a big deal?
Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hello and welcome to the Flow forum! :blush:

Bees are not very keen on syrup in colder weather. Once the temperatures are below 13°C at night, they won’t take syrup very actively, because they can’t dry it for storage.

Not sure what you are talking about there. You mean you forgot to put the thin wood strips into the top bars? If so, yes it does matter. Without them, the bees have nothing to hold on to in the middle of the frame, and they will likely build comb at one side of the frame, or even in a crazy pattern. I would fix that ASAP if I were you. Good news is, if it is cold, they probably won’t be trying to build comb because wax is difficult for them to shape in cold conditions. :wink:

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Oh gosh thanks for that, I will put in the frame guides now!
As for the chilly June weather does this mean that they will ok without feeding until it hopefully warms up? I don’t want them to starve! I have seen some activity coming and going.

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Any good nucleus supplier will have made sure that the colony has a frame or two of honey. That will keep them going for a couple of weeks at least. For winter feeding, you will want to consider fondant or solid sugar if they don’t have sufficient stores by then. For now, they should be fine. :wink:

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