Nuc > Big Hive

[Rob55]

Well today I inspected my poly nuc. 2 Weeks ago it had only a small amount of brood covering 1/4 of two frames and bees covering 3-4 frames, it seemed stable but still low numbers. Since then I have fed about 2.5L of weak syrup and today was really the first decent day to do another inspection. I couldn't believe it when I opened the nuc and there was sealed brood covering almost every frame on both sides and 2 queen cups! The queen cups had nothing inside but I took it as a signal they were starting to get swarmy due to lack of space, so I re-hived them into a 14x12 with 5 fully drawn frames and I tore down the queen cups. Incidentally I saw the queen for the first time and got her safely transferred into the new hive.

So my question now, do I need to inspect every 3-4 days for the next couple of weeks to make sure they are no new QC's? The weather is due to go bad here so conditions will not be good for inspections but in these circumstances should I push ahead to inspect anyway to be on the safe side?

Rob

 

[itma]

Drawn comb!
Luxury.
As long as there is empty comb next to the brood nest (brood is not bookended both sides by stores), they should romp away.

But I don't think there would be any harm in looking in a few days.

 

[drstitson]

play cups are play cups and mean nothing.
only concern is if you see charged queen cells starting.
but you did the right thing - although personally would have given them a few frames of comb initially with dummy board.

 

[Excession]

Why 3-4 days?

7-10 days is perfect for swarm watch.

 

[Polyanwood]

I agree. Bees are really set back each time you open the box. It should be kept to a minimum.

 

[REDWOOD]

I had play cups all year in one hive last year

 

[Rob55]

Cool, will inspect in a week or so!