Worried about my bees not building comb 11 days after hiving nucleus

Beekeeping - Basics
21

Core blimey even write with an accent now. :wink:

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22

I can translate, but it was meant for Lorne who is in Texas… TLC = Totally Loudmouthed Cursing for brits. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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23

Wait… Does TLC really mean total loudmouthed cussing? Or are ya’ll messing with me? Because, where I am from it means tender loving care.

24

We are messing with ourselves… Deliberate misdirection. We gives our bees TLC (your type), well, we think it is TLC… But then we TLC (my mutant type) about our differences of opinion. All part of beekeeping! :smiling_imp:

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25

I always go back to this quote I got from @Michael_Bush site.

“There are a few rules of thumb that are useful guides. One is that when you are confronted with some problem in the apiary and you do not know what to do, then do nothing. Matters are seldom made worse by doing nothing and are often made much worse by inept intervention.” --The How-To-Do-It book of Beekeeping, Richard Taylor

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28

What kind of hive is this? Never heard of a “jubileum”…

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29

Jubilee =party maybe?

31

Except finding queen cells maybe?

32

Bees are never enthusiastic about building comb unless several conditions are met:

  1. they need comb–meaning there is no where to put incoming nectar or for the queen to lay.
  2. the weather is warm. It takes 93 F (34 C) inside the hive to work wax very well.

It also helps if they have the right age bees who are most efficient at wax making. Any bee can make wax, but an old field bee is the least efficient at it.

As far as interfering with the bees, I have said this in my book and elsewhere, so I will quote myself:

" ‘No one teaches beekeeping quite as well as bees.’ Listen to them and they will teach you.

"Trust the Bees

"If the question in your mind starts “how do I make the bees …” then you are already thinking wrongly. If your question is “how can I help them with what they are trying to do…” you are on your way to becoming a beekeeper.

"Resources

“Here, then, is the short answer to every beekeeping issue. Give them the resources to resolve the problem and let them. If you can’t give them the resources, then limit the need for the resources.”

I agree with Jape on this topic. Feeding a struggling nuc is just asking for robbing problems. Better to give them a comb of capped honey, if you have it, if they need resources.

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33

Yes, then at least there is instant room for the queen to lay after they have eaten the stores.

34

This is his first hive, so he doesn’t have any capped honey yet. That is why I suggested continuing to feed - not ideal, but sometimes the only option.

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36

I don’t think the hive needs feeding either. I fed them a gallon of sugar water simply because the nucleus vendor recommended it. There is plenty of pollen in my area at this time. I have thousands of Holly bushes on my property and the bees are loving it. They are all blooming right now.

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38

I rarely feed sugar, I mainly use honey frames.
I took over 4 full sized hives from a beginner and he fed them sugar syrup all year. I’ve found that the bees will move the sugar syrup from the brood nest into the honey super to make room for the queen to lay. There were patches of capped sugar syrup mixed with patches of honey; it was disgusting. I have pics somewhere I’ll try and find them.

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