Last night, I went to pick up my bees at Cindy's house. She gave me verbal and written instructions on how to handle the installation process. Nuc hives come with five full deep frames of bees and a queen that is already part of the colony. The frames are full of comb, pollen, eggs and even some honey around the edges.
When I arrived home, I placed the nucs on top of the hives where they will be living, opened their entrances and left them for the night. As I walked away, the girls were already bubbling out of the entrances, happy to have access to some cooler air and to start exploring their new yard.
This morning, after gently smoking around the entrances, I opened the nucs one at a time. The nuc frames have to be placed in the center of and same exact order and position facing out in the new hive super, which helps orient the bees to their new surroundings. After placing the nuc frames in the center of super, I added three empty frames on the outer sides to fill in the box. Then, the inner and outer covers go on top. There are still some bees hanging out in the nuc boxes, which I left open and next to their respective new hives. The girls will find their way into their new homes within a day or two.
Once I had both hives fully assembled, I inserted feeders with sugar water. Cindy tells me that nectar flow is good in Atlanta right now, so I probably won't have to feed the girls for more than a week or two. They will be out and about, finding their own nectar sources and pollen from flowers and other plants in the neighborhood.
