Now that you have transported your Nuc home, it is time to get it set up in that perfect location.
The first step is to place the Nuc in the location it will be permanently. Open the entrance and let your little ladies get some air! You do not want leave them closed up as they can overheat. Let them settle down for at least a few hours after transportation, preferably overnight. After they have settled down you move them out of there temporary cardboard box into their final home!
Open the nuc and puff a bit of smoke across the frames. This will help them stay calm. Carefully lift the frames out one at a time. Place them in the middle of your hive box in the order you took them out. You can slide one of the edge frames you just placed in over and slide a frame of foundation. Basically, you will have a frame of foundation in between one of the oragional nuc frames and the other four. This is just a simple trick to force the bees to draw out comb on the frames. Give your Nuc some 2:1 sugar syrup and close them back up. When the bees have filled out 7-9 frames it is time to add another box. Your Nuc should fill out the brood chamber and begin working on a second box by the end of a month. They will eagerly eat as much sugar syrup as you can give them. It depends on the hive, but don't give them more than 1-2 gal. a week or the could go honey bound. Leave a comment if you have any questions!