Thank you for purchasing your Nuc from Hagen’s Bees. To help make a successful transition from Nuc Box to Hive, we have provided this ‘How To’ fact sheet to help you on your way.
Your Nuc has been checked:
• For health
• For Brood pattern
• A Queen laying
And is ready to develop into a full Hive, given the right care & attention.
Before you begin, make sure you have the following equipment prepared...
1. An empty hive
2. 5 waxed, assembled brood frames
3. Dummy board
4. Syrup (such as Invertbee)
When your Nuc arrives, place the box on a stand/platform off the ground in the exact position your hive will be. Open the front of the Nuc by removing the entrance bung/disc and let bees the fly. Do NOT remove the roof at this stage. If it is a sunny - hot day, cover the mesh roof with a piece of ply or similar, the same applies if it is a wet day. If the rain is heavy, put the Nuc in a warm (not hot) location in the house and rehome your Nuc the next day.
Preparing your hive for the Nuc, put one frame of new foundation against the nearest wall.
Take the roof off your Nuc and take out 2 frames (pinched together) and place in your Hive next to the newly position frame of foundation. Repeat until all the frames are in your new Hive. Do NOT look for the Queen at this stage.
Next make a space between frames 2 and 3 now insert a new frame of foundation, move three of the four Nuc frames next to the new sheet of foundation.
You now have 1 frame foundation against the side of the new hive, followed by the frame of stores from your new Nuc box, then another frame of foundation followed by 3 frames from your Nuc box, now place another frame of foundation flowed by the last frame of stores from your Nuc box. Insert your dummy board and squeeze all the frames and dummy board tightly together. Replace your crown board and add the feeder with syrup. Close the hive up and leave for 1 week.
You should have a frame layout like this...
1 = frame of foundation, 2 = stores, 3 = foundation, 4,5,6 = new Nuc of bees, 7 = frame of foundation, 8 = stores ,9 & 10 = new foundation, 11 = dummy board
Week 2 - Inspect your hive. We would hope the bees have started to draw out the new frames of foundation inserted at positions 3 and 7, if this is the case look for eggs. If you can see eggs and larvae, give the queen more space by moving frame 1 to position 2 leaving the stores from the original Nuc in position 1. Move a frame of foundation.
After week 2 your hive should look like this..
1 = stores, 2 = frame of foundation, 3 = foundation with eggs, 4,5,6 = original Nuc of bees, 7 = frame of foundation, 8 = Frame new foundation ,9 = stores from original Nuc & 10 = new foundation, 11 = dummy board
Leave the entrance block in place on the floor of your hive, on the smallest size to help prevent robbing just for the first week. The following week, open to the larger space on your entrance block. Once you have 6/7 frames of brood, add a Queen Excluder and a Super box.
Not all hives expand at the same speed, give them time and space to lay and most importantly feed them with a quality feed, this will help them expand more quickly, if they have syrup above they need only forage for pollens, water and propolis.
Try to read your hive, look at the entrance, can you see them bringing in pollens? This is a good sign as they need protein to feed larvae.
It is very important that you do not split the brood area when adding new foundation frames. Check carefully for eggs before rearranging the frames.
Enjoy your bees, we wish you all well. Should you have any questions or feedback, please drop us a line at info@hagensbees.co.uk or call us 01795 382004.