# Advise on new bees



## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

it is too soon to blame the queen. you will start to see the queens daughters in about a month. most will be the queens daughters about 2 months after package install. be patient. the queen needs comb to lay eggs in. workers are needed to care for brood. a slower queen will not provide enough eggs to satisfy the worker population and may be replaced. a couple of months after the package install would be the time for you to consider management changes, for now be patient.


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## AmericasBeekeeper (Jan 24, 2010)

Welcome Kelly! Did you feed them both?


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## KellyC (May 15, 2016)

Thank you I will give it another month then.


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## KellyC (May 15, 2016)

Yes i feed them both until the can was gone.


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## EastTnJoe (Jan 20, 2016)

We installed 4 packages on April 11 and have fed them more than 160lbs of sugar. One can isn't really "feeding" them.


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## PepperBeeMan (Apr 27, 2016)

EastTnJoe said:


> We installed 4 packages on April 11 and have fed them more than 160lbs of sugar. One can isn't really "feeding" them.


How much for a nuc installed end of April? Mine are Russians. I did top feeding. They didn't really touch it. quarter of a quart in 1 week. I tried adding a little vinegar, same result. They were drawing out comb fine and foraging like crazy so I assumed they were finding it in the field. Lots of Maple/Black locust plenty pollen in Mid TN.


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

EastTnJoe said:


> We installed 4 packages on April 11 and have fed them more than 160lbs of sugar. One can isn't really "feeding" them.


if this was fed as sugar, it is being dumped out of the hive. if it is sugar fed as syrup this seems like a lot. 50 lbs. of honey equivelint is a lot for a hive for a month. for a package this is more than to much.


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## KellyC (May 15, 2016)

Well i found out today the queen is not in the hive. I have a worker laying drones. Im trying to find a new queen but im afraid the workers will all be dead before any new brood hatches. Is $155 a reasonable price for a 5 frame nuc hive with a queen?


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

it is difficult to get a laying worker hive to accept a queen. it takes at least a month to get into this situation. do some research on this site. the price of bees varies but this price is about average. the quality of the queen is the trick, check references.


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## GaryG74 (Apr 9, 2014)

Welcome to BeeSource. Sorry about the queen less hive. I'd go with the nuc and raise a hive from it instead of trying to get the laying workers to accept a queen. Most of the time they will kill a new queen. Cut your losses early, new hive from the nuc, and use it as a learning experience.


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## Planner (Apr 3, 2016)

Gary x2


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## PepperBeeMan (Apr 27, 2016)

155 isn't a bad price. I paid 140. I've heard up to 225.


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## Aroc (May 18, 2016)

Is possible to combine the hives in this situation?


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

combining hives is a bad bet. you could well end up with a combined laying worker hive. let the laying worker hive build comb and gather honey until the flow ends or their population drops then shake the hive out. search this site for the procedure. start over again, with a package or nuc. from the calander a nuc is getting to be the best choice. if you had a strong colony a split would be an excellent idea, that is start your own nuc.


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## KellyC (May 15, 2016)

I am getting a nuc but starting it in a whole new hive on its own. Now here is where my question comes in. If I take the queen less hive at least 100 yes away and set it down with everything still with it, and put the new nuc hive with its own new box and everything right where the old one was, will the good foragers from the queen less hive be accepted into the new nuc? And will the laying workers just stay in their old hive?


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## mathesonequip (Jul 9, 2012)

ok, but depending on your flow you could be reducing your laying worker hive to a robing target. robbing is never a good thing to get going. it may be better to shake them out and get it over with when the time comes. with a shake out the workers mostly end up in another colony nearby..


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## KellyC (May 15, 2016)

Thank you I will do that today. I really appreciate your help.


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## sakhoney (Apr 3, 2016)

Kelly C - do you have the new nuc yet? if so you can turn the entrance 180 degrees from there the LW hive was and they will work there way in slowly - increasing the population of the nuc - I do it all the time. I make up medium nucs just for this issue when making up my splits spring/fall and I make up several at a time


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