Hello all,
I received my first of two nucs nearly 3 weeks ago. I am wondering if I should have added another brood box instead of a super. They have been bearding quite a bit due to the heat, and I am mildly alarmed at how quickly and prolifically they have filled out their first brood box! Therefore second guessing everything.
At one week I performed my first hive check and everything looked great, and I was impressed with how quickly they had moved into the empty frames. By the second hive check, they had almost entirely filled out 8 of the 10 frames, and they had already started in on the last open ones. Thinking of the 7/10 rule, I added the super.
So my questions are as follows:
Do I risk swarming if I don't swap the super for a brood box, or is one ok?/Is it normal for them to expand so quickly? Maybe I just didn't realize how quick they work!
How many supers would it be good to have on hand per hive, so I'm not caught off guard needing to order them last minute. One friend said she extracts honey as soon as each super is full and then puts it back.
*I'm still waiting for their neighbor hive to be ready :)
Thank you in advance!
Should be fine. Looking at your photo. It looks like you have a queen excluder in place. Often bees will not pass through an excluder to new foundation. If bees are not going up remove excluder for a few days to get them working up there. At least least one extra super is a good idea.