Hello All & Neon, Your post is easier for me to help with because you added so much information. Its hard to diagnosis a problem without all the facts. Your questions are general so now they are easy but has you grow in beekeeping you might need to confer with other beekeepers in your area for problems related to your area of the world. Neon Rosell wrote: >> > I think my queens are all mongrels, the apiary I > bought them from said they are carniolans (black), but > they have mix color offspring, brown and black. They sound basicly Carniolans but most importantly they are a strain which have been working well in your area of the world by the beekeeper you got those from. I believe its allways better to use bees from your area than to import a strain from another part of the world but only my opinion. I treated them with "checkmite" strips when I just > bought them as a three frame nuc for 42 days as what > I've read so far, if my memory serves me right, is > this the right duration? I did not have the > instructions nor the apiary I bought them from. Hope you only used one strip as only one was needed and you said strips. 42 days is long enough and I can post U.S. Checkmite instructions if you want me to. Right now Checkmite has got a 98% control but you should ask in your area if any beekeepers are seeing resistant to Coumaphous varroa mites. > > BTW, I'm from the Philippines. So, there is no > problems here of overwintering the hives, but you > could compare it to the rainy season (July-November) > since the bees could not go out and look for forage. > Plus also the temperature difference, the temperature > here is mainly constant throughout the year (28-33 deg > C). > > When you start from a three frame nuc do you place it on a full hive body with all the frames of foundation? Or do you put the three > frames of brood at the middle and frames of foundation > at the sides? I believe the weather conditions at the time nuc making determines its placement as all of the above will work. ALLWAYS keep a small entrance on a nuc when large colonies are in the area. What I did was to put one frame of > foundation at a time in-between the brood frames. As > soon as the frame is partially drawn and with eggs on > it I add another frame. Does this way of doing it > stresses the colony, because I've been noticing an > increase in chalk brood mummies? You really don't want to put foundation in the middle of the brood nest in a nuc if they need to cluster but in your area you would probabbly be allright. Sounds like you are enjoying and taking good care of your little nuc. I believe it would be less stress to put the foundation on the outside but doubt it caused your chalk brood. We all see a little chalk brood in early spring in various hives but usually gets better as season progresses but abnormally large amount could indicate another problem. I've been constantly > feeding 1:1 sugar syrup while the foundations are > being drawn. Do I have to wait for a full cycle of > brood (21 days) before putting an additional frame of > foundation? We normally put all the frames in single deep box and reduce the entrance when removed from the nuc box but we have put the nuc/hives on top of strong hives in cold weather and reduced their size with divider boards at times but usually we put all frames in and just reduce the entrance. I stopped feeding when I noticed there was > a slight honey flow but still continued to add frames > of foundation. When I inspected the hives again one > colony has destroyed the newly placed foundation. I don't believe this would have happened had you continued to supply syrup. Keep syrup available at all times to nucs. Because of a lack of field bees many times they can't take advantage of honey flows. Good luck with your beekeeping ! Sincerely, Bob Harrison Odessa,Missouri > > > __________________________________________________ > Do You Yahoo!? > Yahoo! Shopping - Thousands of Stores. Millions of Products. > http://shopping.yahoo.com/