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  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Blair Christian <blair.christian AT gmail.com>
  • Cc: ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Hive size question from beginner...
  • Date: Tue, 12 Apr 2011 20:45:22 -0400

Blair,

1) Your nuc should come with 5 frames of drawn comb. You'll want to add another hive body when they've got a total of seven or so drawn out. So it shouldn't take long at all before you need to add your second box. These 2 boxes will constitute your year-round brood chamber. Whether you go with 2 deep hive bodies or one deep plus one medium, or three mediums (roughly the same as 2 deeps), or even something else, is a hotly debated topic that comes down to your personal philosophy and preference. In our area, you can certainly get by with a deep and a medium for the brood chamber, but I personally think that can limit the size of the brood nest (if you've got gangbuster queens like I have!) for no good reason. So I use 2 deep boxes for my brood chambers.
Since you are starting in June (at the tail end of our main honey flow), you won't need any more supers this year.

2) Your nuc (bees, brood and frames) may come in a bee-tight cardboard box, or maybe you are transferring your nuc into your own equipment when you pick up the bees? If the latter, secure a bit of window screen or something similar in the entrance to keep the bees in. Plan ahead, be flexible and be creative. Just don't suffocate them.

3) You'll need to feed sugar syrup until the bees have drawn out all their comb and have stored up enough food to get them through to the fall aster/goldenrod flow. Around here, summertime is a long dry spell for nectar. Since you are starting at the end of the main honey flow, you'll need to feed your new bees sugar syrup throughout the summer or they'll starve to death. Mix half water, half sugar (it works out to roughly 5 quarts water plus 10 pounds sugar).
Once your hive is thriving in the fall, check the mite levels using the sugar shake test. If you need to treat, there are a variety of options, depending (like most things in beekeeping!) on your personal philosophy and preference.

Let us know how things go!

Randall Austin


On 4/12/2011 3:18 PM, Blair Christian wrote:
Hi All,

I'm getting ready for a June pickup of a nuc. I've been doing some
reading/watching of Keith Delaplane, so anything I say is probably
grounded in what he said, but possibly entirely misquoted...

Question 1 I have is: What size hive should I start with? It sounds
like I should go with 1 full sized hive body for the first month, then
check on the colony, adding either a medium or full hive body on top
if the colony is in good shape and has filled out most(?) of the
original hive body. I just bought one full sized hive body and one
medium super. Do you think that will be enough for this year, or
should I pick up a super or more?

Question 0 is: As I go to pick up the nuc, should I take screen with
me to block the entrance to the hive so that the bees don't get out as
I'm driving home? I'm sure somebody has a horror story out there I
can learn from...

Question 2 is: Do you have any advice on the first few weeks? I was
planning on sugar syrup because that's what I saw on youtube. Are
there any alternatives out there I should be aware of? Any treatments
(like powdered sugar for mites) that I should anticipate for this
area?

Best,
Blair
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