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My nuc came with hundreds of dead bees.

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dead bees nuc
1K views 4 replies 5 participants last post by  donutowlcroissantbee 
#1 ·
Hi everyone. New to the forum. New to beekeeping. I have two newly bought nucs which came from different places and I feel unsettled about the quality of one nuc.

This is a bit long, forgive me.

Two weeks ago I got my first nuc of bees. I collected them in the evening in a standard nuc box. I set the nuc box on top of the brood box and opened it. It was getting dark so I left them overnight and the following day transferred them to the brood box. It went smoothly. I was nervous so I didn't hang around looking for the queen as each frame was covered in bees that I couldn't barely see the comb anyway. But everything just kinda felt good. The nuc came with food and varroa treatment inside, which I was told was the law in Spain, all new bee nucs sold must be sold with varroa treatment. Inside the nuc hive it was clean, the bees were calm, there was the odd bee squished, maybe a dozen dead ones in total. To be expected I thought.

Today I picked up my second nuc. I ordered this one and paid a deposit before I found the person who sold me the first nuc two weeks ago. So this one today was ordered from a shop in our local town. They told me to go in around midday as opposed to the evening like the last place. The nuc box was made of cardboard. Not newly bought cardboard, and put together nicely, this had been fashioned together from the type of cardboard that you throw in the bin, held together by packing tape. There was a ventilation hole covered with mesh and another hole the the cardboard on the opposite side but taped over. Upon asking I was told there was no varroa treatment nor food. I bought some supplementary feed for the bees and asked them to put extra tape on a couple of areas on the cardboard box that were worn and almost had holes in them. I didn't want bees escaping in the car.

Got home, put the nuc box on top of the brood box as before. I opened the small hole for the bees to come out by removing the packing tape, which was a farce with gloves and scissors and sticky tape sticking to my hands, the bees were stuck to it and couldn't get off the stickiness. They flew out en masse and loads just flopped onto the ground, some belly up, and some crawling around. I left them for two hours but then storm clouds gathered and I was worried it was going to rain and my cardboard nuc box would disintegrate so I transferred them over. And glad I did as we have just had a huge downpour with hailstones for twenty minutes. There were a lot of dead bees outside on the ground.

I opened the top of the box by removing the tape, which again was not at all easy with sticky tape and bees flying out and getting stuck on it, my gloves getting stuck on the tape etc. When I opened the top there were lots of bees squished and dead on top of the frames. I guess with the cardboard flaps had been put down to close the box there must have been bees there and they got squished, or it happened during transit to the shop. The frames inside looked much dirtier, the comb looked dirty and almost disorganised in different shapes. I cannot describe it. It just looked a bit old. There was some capped brood front what I could see. Not a lot. Couldn't see any honey. But to be honest I wasn't hanging around due to thunder and impending rain. It was easy to see the comb as there was probably about a quarter to half of the quantity of bees compared to the last nuc which was literally swarming all over with bees.

There was barely any room in the box between the end frames and the cardboard sides and many bees were actually squished into the comb and the sides of the box. On the bottom of the box were hundreds of dead bees.

Compared to my first experience with the first nuc I feel a bit hard done by as it was 30% more money, with significantly less bees and I have already lost lots of bees... The queen may be one of them squished for all I know.

Am I justified in my feelings or was I just really lucky the first time to have an exceptional couple give me great quality service and product, whereas the shop experience is more normal?

Pic 1 dead bees on the ground
Pic 2 and 3 inside of the box with squished bees and dead bees
Pic 4 the amount of bees on each frame, the amount of capped brood visible. And the bees were squished into it and dead.
Pic 5 the first nuc two weeks ago full of bees compared to the nuc today with much less bees.
 

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#3 ·
That 2nd nuc was a slop job. Local trying to make a quick buck, and didn't do it right. Pickup should have been evening or crack of dawn, proper cardboard/plastic type nuc box, or on a local their wooden nuc they were raised in and you pay a deposit you get back when you return it. If I have an undersized nuc (and I had one last week), I sell it to a new beekeeper for like $75 and have them bring their own box and we move the bees over together so they learn how to handle their bees. you are correct in assuming that wasn't done right

That is not a LOT of dead bees - I've done removals, let me tell you that's a small number of bees on the ground - but it was unnecessary dumbness in the way they were packed, probably inadequate ventilation killed part of the bees in the box. See if you have brood, freshly laid eggs indicate a queen and then decide whether to complain. Realize, you're going to be dealing with local beekeepers for a long time unless you move.
 
#4 ·
Apparently this guy needed some money fast and threw that together…you can see on the frame there are sticks.across the corners, he cut the honey comb out and let them build new comb, hence no food. There usually are dead bees, and as said very sloppy, not too many bees to cover that brood. Hopefully you have a decent queen. Look for eggs. And larva.
 
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