May have messed up - Deep Nuc to Medium Hive

[aiannar974]

http://www.centralmarylandbees.org/c...ng%20Deeps.pdf

I am totally new to beekeeping. Just started this year. Picked up a nuc 3 weeks ago. I followed the article above to try to move my nuc from a deep to a new medium hive with no comb. I followed the section for no comb. Well I just hit the 3 week mark, I am at the end of method 1 and this is what I have.

2 boxes below the queen excluder. Queen in the bottom boxes. Little to no comb drawn on plastic foundation. Queen is actively moving around with bees around her but no eggs.

2 medium boxes above the excluder with some brood left and lots of uncapped honey or sugar water mostly in deep frames and one medium frame

1 medium box at the top with a feeder that I have kept full of one to one sugar / water mixture with a little pro health in it.

Today I moved the one medium frame with uncapped honey down with the queen since it has comb on it.


What would you do next? I thought maybe I should move the deep frames down into two medium boxes since there is comb there and maybe she would lay in them.

Any help would be appreciated.

Anthony

[Waveeater]

I'm a little confused on how you have deep frames in medium boxes. Having said that I would make sure my brood is below the excluder. It sounds like you also may not have enough bees for the amount of room you seem to have. Keep them more crowded early on while they build up. If I were going to feed make sure it is 1 to 1 so they will tend to pull more comb instead of just trying to store it all. One mistake I made when I first started was adding to many boxes to soon. Good luck.

[cao]

Welcome. 

I can't get the link to work so I don't know what is in the article.  As I see it, your queen is looking for somewhere to lay but doesn't have access to the brood nest.  The rest of the bees are busy taking care of the brood and waiting for the queen to lay some more.  What I would do will take some time to complete.  First put the deep frames to one side with the empty medium frames to the other side in two medium boxes.  Then remove the excluder and extra boxes and allow the queen access to the brood nest so she can do her job.  Let them build up.  They will eventually build the medium frames and start using them.  When the outside deep frame is empty of brood you can remove it and add two medium frames to the other side.  You will continue to remove the outside deep frame and shift the frames over as they build on the medium frames.

[minz]

Your issue may be plastic foundation. Did you paint it with wax? Problem I experienced is that you need a strong hive to draw plastic and a nuc in not a strong hive.
Do you have 5 boxes on the hive or two low to fit the deep frames?
Is your location Maryland (from the link)?
Maybe a picture?
No eggs even in the drawn foundation?
Ok, little to go on so this may be bad advice. Assuming you have deep frames in two medium boxes, the rest is undrawn comb. If not make it that way with your feeder and your new medium frames on the outside of the drawn ones. The queen will go back to work in the deep frames, the bees will draw out the mediums and burr comb off the bottom of some. You need to get her back to work, with her bees, the young bees you do not have are the ones that are going to draw wax.

[aiannar974]

Awesome - Thanks for the responses.  I will move the deeps down into the bottom two med boxes and leave the feeder on this afternoon.

Just for clarification - I am in Dallas, TX.  I updated my profile today.

Also, the frames I have do have wax coated plastic foundation.  I could put some together with no foundation or with only wax foundation today if you think it would make a difference.  Any thoughts?

Thanks again - Anthony

[cao]

Also, the frames I have do have wax coated plastic foundation.  I could put some together with no foundation or with only wax foundation today if you think it would make a difference.  Any thoughts?

I have had some trouble getting the bees to use plastic foundation.  I think there isn't enough wax on them from the factory.  I noticed the other day that Mann Lake now offers what they call Quick Draw Rite-Cell? Foundation which has more wax on it.  So it is an issue to a lot of beekeepers.  I melt my extra wax and use a paint brush to add wax to the foundation.  This extra wax encourages them to 'fix' the comb and once they start drawing it out it doesn't take long for them to start using it.

[Captain776]

Awesome - Thanks for the responses.  I will move the deeps down into the bottom two med boxes and leave the feeder on this afternoon.

Just for clarification - I am in Dallas, TX.  I updated my profile today.

Also, the frames I have do have wax coated plastic foundation.  I could put some together with no foundation or with only wax foundation today if you think it would make a difference.  Any thoughts?

Thanks again - Anthony

See my post yesterday regarding Foundation types........
Bees are very slow to use plastic but will eventually, some here, swear by it, for me.......they won't use it.
Even slow to start and waxed n wired but when I put foundation less frames in there, they get on them right away

[Kathyp]

I'd also get rid of the excluder.  why have it on?  new hive and you will not take honey this year anyway.  Toss it and let the queen have all the boxes.  And I agree.  Seems like to much space for a new hive.

[Captain776]

The population in my hives is noticeably increased, looks like doubled.
I agree with removing QE.
I think most well experienced Beekeepers do not use a QE.
I read for a worker to keep fighting her way through the QE can reduce their life by 50%.

Others, please correct me, if this is not correct.
Typically the Queen lays from the center of each frame outward in an arch and the workers will store honey at the top of frames.
If you just have one Brood Box, the Queen naturally does not cross the Honey line.
When you put on the second Brood Box, the workers will move the honey from top of frames in the lower Brood Box to the top of second box and then store the Honey in the Super when you add it.
In a natural hive, the Queen and the bees don't typically lay eggs where they store honey.