Hello All,
Andrew wrote:
  I'm getting some conflicting  advice locally on how to populate a hive
when the bees arrive in a four  frame nuke, so I thought I'd turn to the
experience of this list's  subscribers for advice.
There are many ways to keep bees. It is for you to sort out the best method
for you.
 My inclination is to immediately place the frames from the nuke into the
 brood chamber - placing them in the center of the chamber and in the same
 order that they were in the nuke.  Does this sound right?
Correct. Also reduce entrance and feed.

 A second question concerns the use of Wintergreen grease patties as a
 prophylactic for mites. (See USDA Northeast Region SARE
 http://rnoel.virtualave.net/2000/index.htm)  As a member of MOFGA (Maine
 Organic Farmers & Growers Assoc.) I am very interested in using techniques
 that will control mites and exposure to other pests/diseases in as natural
 a way as I can.  Has anyone tried the Wintergreen patties, and if so how
 well did they work?  Presuming that they do work, should I start using the
 patties at the same time I put the bees in the hive from the nuke?
In my opinion the wintergreen patties are a waste of time for varroa. They
might help for tracheal mites. The methods of IPM control recommended by the
USDA bee labs are:
1 drone brood removal
2  varroa tolerent queens (Russian etc.)
3  Open mesh floors
In my opinion small cell size could be a help but I have never used small
cell myself but information can bee obtained from beesource.com
The above all work against varroa(U.S.D.A. tested). NONE will solve the
varroa problem alone. All must be used together still expect some losses and
reduced honey crops (in my opinion.
Bob