Hiya Bobby your’re not alone, I got ripped off by a fella who probably couldn’t stop laughing at how he duped the stupid newbee. I’m not even going to say how ripped off I got for my $150 nuc but my nearest reputable supplier couldnt supply until October this year so I jumped the gun… Still kicking myself and would like to give the seller a piece of my mind and maybe a bit more… However I’ve put it down to a learning experience and this has made me even more determined to succeed in this new endeavour. If I hadn’t picked up some more free bees I’d probably be buying another nuc in October… Still it would be nice to have a colony that wasn’t a swarm so I shouldn’t rule it out… Just need one more hive…
I just hope no one else gets duped by the bloke who advertises duty of care in Gumtree… There, I’ve named and shamed. Naughty me. Feel better though.
Apologies for the vent…
That is the plan @Anon.
Today I will be checking to see if the queens were properly freed and laying. The first mite treatment will take place this weekend at the 1 week mark. I am not sure if I am going to use strips or vaporization. I don’t have a vaporizer so it may just be strips.
I paid the same in Ga (near cartersville) and 3 of the 5 frames were covered with bees the other two not so much.
Aw c’mon Skeggs, you can tell us! Shame the conniving shyster!
I think naming and shaming bad people is a public service - we are here to help each other, and you are helping others to avoid a lying cheat. Don’t apologize for venting when it could help somebody. 
How are your flower pot bees doing? Any photos of what they did with the comb after you put it into frames? I would love an update when you have time!
Dawn
@Chet_Calhoun Chet, You and I may have had the same supplier.
I had white nuc shipping boxes held closed with red tape, sugar in the bottom, caged queens with electrical tape over the candy plug, a mix of wood and completely plastic frames.
3 frames of bees/brood and 2 UNDRAWN plastic frames.
@Dawn_SD If we’re naming (heh heh heh) I think the suppliers to my vendor (a garden center) were the Halbegewachs family out of Cartersville (where Chet got his coincidentally).
It will be fascinating to see how those bees do. I would be interested to hear what they make of the plastic frames. If they are slow about using them, I might switch them for wood. Please keep us updated, and shame on the Halbegewachs - if they were going to short you, they should have charged you less for the nuc. That would be the only decent thing to do.
I’ve remember reading that vaporizing should only be a winter treatment after outside temps reach a certain point (which I can’t remember off hand).
40F or 4C according to Varrox 
That is the daytime temp when you treat, doesn’t matter if it is lower after you are done.
@Dawn_SD I have tons of frames ready to go. If when I inspect today I see that the bees are not drawing on the plastic, I’ll put in wood - I have black, yellow, and wax foundation to choose from. I’d like black in the brood so my eyes can pick out eggs maybe?
I am going to try that this year too, mixed with foundationless to drive my husband nuts! 
You can vaporise at any time. Generally people do it during a broodless period…mid winter. But you can vapourise OA at any time …if brood is present then you treat at 5 day intervals and you do that 3 times. You do it like that so you get all the varroa in the brood cells as the baby bees emerge.
I used black plastic foundation but painted it with my own wax. They were happy to use it…not that I gave them a choice. As the nectar flow was poor at the time, I gave them some syrup…and they built 10 frames of comb in quick order…just a few weeks.
you are describing what I got perfectly!
If the temps are above freezing and there is no sealed brood, you can’t go wrong with OAV.
I use the Varrox http://oxavap.com/
Chet, what were you told you were going to get?
This is what I purchased:
"Place an order here for your 5-frame Nuc.
These are Georgia-grown bees.
For all of you new to beekeeping, this is how you get your first bees. You are purchasing a working hive: these 5 frames contain the Nucleus (Nuc) of an established hive. This contains a queen and thousands of worker bees that have already been working with one another. It also already contains honey, pollen, eggs, and larvae as a basis for them to build upon.
*We do not ship these! This is a pre-order so you can pick up your bees in March 2016 (exact date TBD) from our store in Dallas, GA. We sell out every year and once they’re gone they’re gone!
Want to get a more complete bee kit when you pick up? Just click “Bee Kit” here to add a hive body, bottom board, cover and five frames to your order (insert your Nuc’s five frames and your bees will use the new frames for their production, and you have a 10-frame hive)"
Between the two nucs, I got 4 empty frames. That’s practically an empty nuc in and of itself.
Now like I said, I cannot really blame the vendor, but I can call out the supplier.
This is what my order form says:
5 FRAME Langstroth Starter Hive with laying gueen & bees: $175.00
(comes in temp nuc box for transfer to your Langstroth Hive box)
3 FRAME Starter Hive with laying queen & bees: $145.00
(comes in temp nuc box for transfer to your Langstroth Hive box)
3 Lb. PACKAGE of bees with queen: $125.00
(bees loose in cage with hanging queen cage) Recommend for Top Bar hives
All orders are with European Hygienic mite resistent queens raised outside Africanized
Bee zone.
Subsequent communication has described the queen as a VSH Italian and she will be marked.
@jape
Thanks for the extra info but we’re discussing a newly installed, unestablished Nucleus hive here.
It came from elsewhere, there’s one box. It is likely the capped brood carries varroa.
I’ll vaporize in a week or put an Apivar strip in. One or the other.
Any yes, if I vaporize, I’ll do it again and again at set intervals if need be after checking my board for drop counts.
Let me start by saying that I am deaf and rely on my wife to hear for me and we were there in person to purchase other supplies when we placed the order and paid for the nuc. The wife say’s the lady did not specify how many frames would be included. But does it really matter, they posted on the site and I am sure many believed it would be 5 frames of bees. Also the week before we picked up the bees I went with my step son to pick up supplies from his vendor which is in cartersville and his vendor told us to expect only 3 frames of bees. He knew what he was talking about didn’t he. Think I will use his vendor from now on.
It would have been nice if they only charged you for 3 frames of bees! 