I've been trying to get a nuc started and just can't seem to get any queens to hatch or lay. The first time through I swapped out two frames of brood and eggs, two frames part full of honey and one empty drawn frame in a five frame coates nuc. After one week I spotted two queen cells which appeared to hatch but two weeks after the hatch I never saw a queen or fresh eggs. So I tried it again with another two frames of young brood and eggs, more honey and one empty drawn frame. The same thing happened, queen cells that hatched but after two weeks no sign of a queen. This time around I found a almost capped swarmer cell on a frame with some drone brood and just put it in the nuc over the weekend along with some more honey and a second frame of brood hoping that this attempt will work.
What am I missing here? were the last queen cells made out of brood that was too old or is the nuc too small. Is it still to early to start nucs or is it just bad luck so far? The donor hives are going strong but haven't started any swarm cells yet and the honey flow kicked in about a week ago. I just don't get it...?
First where are you located in Hopelessly Lost? The frames that you are grabbing, are you sure there are eggs there? Do you have drones flying? Are you feeding? Are you getting enough bees to make queens? It takes a lot of resources to make a queen. And you may want to give it more that 2 weeks.
I'm not stuck in hopelessly lost yet, just getting into the land of confused and wondering what's going on. I've got drones flying and am pretty sure that the frames had eggs, need to start wearing my reading glasses when checking for the small stuff. I'm not feeding right now because of robbing, I think that there is a feral hive in the area that is aggressively robbing when I feed the nuc. Don't know about having enough bees in the nuc to make a queen, I've been shaking house bees into the nuc when I introduce the frames of eggs and brood, maybe that is the problem.
Changed my location from hopelessly lost to Port Orange FL, thanks for the poke :-D
what kind of birds do you have around?
When the queen cells are first capped they are very sensitive for the first couple of days, rough handling could have killed them.
As Kathy said some times the birds will get them on their mating flights.
To reduce the robbing on the nucs use a top feeder. I drill a hole in one of the tops and install a quart jar.
Many, many queens start laying in the third week. You may have given up too soon.
QuoteYou may have given up too soon.
yeah, but they kept making queen cells.
i have a heck of a time here because the swallows get my queens. lost a good hive this year because i wasn't paying attention and the new queen didn't make it back. caught a blue jay sitting on one hive today grabbing lunch as it flew in and out.
I'm not sure if birds got the girls, I have Mocking birds and Brown House Wrens in the back yard. Haven't seen any Blue Jays this year and we all know that Jays just love honey bees. I'll keep trying and give it more time along with starting to feed. Just got a lead on a cut out under a trailer, it sounds like a lot of work but could be a great place for a swarm trap.
If you find queen cells, gently put them back in the same order (the frames I mean) and don't check them again for at least 3 weeks. Constant checking will run a virgin queen off. Patience is the key to raising queens.
I'm not too far from you and am in your area quite a bit...let me know if you need some help!
Scott
Quote from: hardwood on March 27, 2012, 12:15:17 AM
I'm not too far from you and am in your area quite a bit...let me know if you need some help!
Scott
beeboy, you should take Scott up on his offer. He knows what he is doing and a good mentor is worth a lot when you are getting started.
Yeah, I already know Scott form the local bee club, like to think of him as a friend, and know that he knows his stuff. If we get together my Mead cellar will take a hit. I've been a hobby beekeeper for about 20 years and usually just do splits not nucs and am just trying something a little different this year. I'll keep trying by swapping out brood from my other hives. Pulling the brood from the hives will help with swarm control.