I recently (last Tuesday) got a new nuke, and I noticed that many of
the mature bees were already focusing on honey stores rather than hive
preparation and expansion. I have tried giving pollen substitutes
(yeast) and also leaving bee candy in order to minimise work on food
thus maximising labour focused on hive work, unfortunately they
haven’t touched either and seem to be content staying only on the 3
frames supplied with the small nuke. I have inspected these frames,
located the queen, and she seems to have suspended laying due to lack
of space, I am very concerned as I planed to split the hive early next
year (later this year if they really took).
Furthermore, this seems a massive waste, as she is a well bred queen
at her laying peak.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Please email me and also
post, so others with this problem of slow comb drawing, may also
benefit from the wisdom of the replies!

Thanks.

P.S: also if anyone knows of any groups of beekeepers in the
Hertfordshire aria I would like to look into finding them, so any
details would be great!