After bringing the cardboard nuc of bees home from the 4H camp, we popped the yellow cork and let them fly around for a couple hours. Confined bees are cranky bees, and we wanted them more mellow for transfer.
There were five frames in the nuc box...four fairly well developed frames and one they were just beginning to draw out into comb.
Aren't they lovely bees?
Easy peasy to just move the frames from the nuc box to the hive, where we had four more frames with just foundation waiting for them to build.
After taking out the last frame, there were a few bees in the box. Bees that went foraging when we first opened the yellow cork came home to the empty box. They had legs covered with pollen and bellies full of flower nectar for the hive. The bees in the hive started sending the "this is home" chemical signal, and within a few hours, all the bees had vacated the box and moved into the new hive.
We've been feeding the new hive sugar water, about a quart every two days. The old hive got their last quart of medicated sugar water on Sunday, sucked it down in two days...and we cut them off. They are getting way strong and are now on their own. We'll add honey supers this week for them to start collecting honey for us. 
New hive in front...last year's combined hive in the background. Go bees, go!
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