New Home Grown Queen but have questions?

[billdean]

Following my progression from other threads on here I found capped Queen cells on the 10th of June and decided to split my hive into 2 nucs and have them raise there own queens. Today was the day for me to go back into each nuc and see if I had new queens. Nuc #1, I looked well but found no evidence that a queen was there. I kind of suspected that was the case while I had been watching the hives for a few weeks. Nuc #2 I found eggs in this nuc. Great! I will break down the nucs here and ask question pertaining to each nuc.

Nuc #1

Nuc #1 is heavy with honey and very little place to lay. The bees have been back filling all the cells that the brood emerged from. I added another nuc box on top of it to give them room. My thinking is if there was a queen they would have swarmed by now because the hive is so packed with honey. How long do I give the queen here, if there is one to start laying? If there is not a queen should I shake the bees out and place the frames from the nuc into the other hives? There are a lot of bee on all the frames.

Nuc #2

Nuc #2 has a little more room in it as I had used a double nuc to begin with. The queen did move up and started laying in the top box of 2. The bottom box was full of honey also, with a small spot on some of the frames the queen was laying in. I gathered all the frames from the top and bottom box that had eggs and put them into one box and set that on the bottom board. Then a new box with un-drawn Rite cell foundation in the middle and then the top box was all honey. My question is maybe I should of put this nuc into a couple 8 frame mediums instead of adding more nuc boxes. Theres a lot of summer left for this nuke to fill out 3 8 frame medium boxes and be ready for winter. Did I do right or is there something else that needs to be done. We are in a good honey flow now.

[iddee]

Nuc #1.. I would wait for 4 weeks, 28 days, from the day of the split, before giving up on the new queen.

Nuc #2.. It doesn't matter what size the boxes are, just keep empty space in some frames for her to lay. You can use whatever size boxes you want.

[cao]

Nuc #1

>How long do I give the queen here, if there is one to start laying?
Doing the bee math.  Capped queen cell ot the 10th.  Could be as late as 17th or 18th to hatch.  Add a couple of days for the queen to get ready to fly.  That would be say the 21st.  Then add a couple of days for the mating flight(s)(weather could delay it a few days).  Then add a few days for the bees to get the cells ready and for her to get started laying.  So it is feasible that she isn't ready to lay yet.  Give her a couple of weeks to get going.  Yes this is a longwinded way of saying I agree with iddee. 

>If there is not a queen should I shake the bees out and place the frames from the nuc into the other hives?
It depends on what you want to do.  If there are plenty of bees, you could add a frame of brood and se if they will raise another queen.  You could do a newspaper combine with your other nuc.  Yes you could also shake the bees out. 

Nuc #2
Like iddee said the bees don't care what size box the are in.  It depends on what your goal is.  If you are wanting to overwinter them in 8 frame mediums then when you inspect them next time move them into those boxes.

[billdean]

Nuc #1.. I would wait for 4 weeks, 28 days, from the day of the split, before giving up on the new queen.

Nuc #2.. It doesn't matter what size the boxes are, just keep empty space in some frames for her to lay. You can use whatever size boxes you want.

Thanks Iddee...........I can wait another 9 days. I have waited this long. I will do my next inspection say Friday July 8. If no queen I will probably return them to the original hive in nuc 2 using the paper combine if I can figure out how to do that.

[billdean]

Nuc #1


>If there is not a queen should I shake the bees out and place the frames from the nuc into the other hives?
It depends on what you want to do.  If there are plenty of bees, you could add a frame of brood and se if they will raise another queen.  You could do a newspaper combine with your other nuc.  Yes you could also shake the bees out. 

This is what I would rather do but I am not sure how to go about it.

[iddee]

Take top off hive. Lay a sheet of newspaper over it. Set nuc on top with no bottom board. Cover remainder to keep rain out, if needed. Walk away. 24 to 48 hours, they will be all one hive again.
To make it even easier, put the frames from the buc in the same size box as the hive. Finish filling with empty frames.

[billdean]

I could use some more help...........yes again!

I went back into nuc #1 today to see if the queen had started laying. To my surprise I found 1 queen cup and 2 queen cells (not capped yet but close) The queen cells did have larvae in them with lots of royal jelly. Now to say the least I was really perplexed. In 2 inspection I have found no eggs or larvae in this nuc. I looked carefully for the queen but did not find her. I was not sure what all this was saying or what I should do. I know being the first of July I did not want to start raising a new queen as I believe we will be going into a dearth soon. I also really only wanted 4 hives. Hears what I did whether it was right for me only you can help me decide.
1. I cut out all the queen cells and looked diligently for the queen if there is one. Nothing
2. I did a paper combine with nuc #2 that was put into an 8 frame medium this morning

I guess I would rather have 4 strong hives.  Recombining the nucs gave me 3 full draw out hive bodies with lots of bees.
Now............how did they make queen cells? Is it possible that a laying worker is responsible? The bees seem to think they need to start making a new queen so understanding that is there a queen? Sure could uses some help understanding this?

[iddee]

I seldom try to figure out why bees do what they do, but I do think you did right. Now, sit back, relax and enjoy.

[Nugget Shooter]

Nothing better than having someone with more knowledge jump in and tell you you and the bees got this.... Love this place for learning even if the answer was not the one I was hoping for 

[billdean]

I seldom try to figure out why bees do what they do, but I do think you did right. Now, sit back, relax and enjoy.

Thanks Iddee..........I hope you are right.