Boisterous Bees and possibly queenless

[Curley]

Hi all, I'm after a bit of advice.

I made an old queen nuc three weeks ago from my single full colony which is large (double brood, two supers - full of bees) and has been a bit grumpyall season. In hind sight I should probably have done a straight split on seeing queen cells but my thinking was I wanted to keep a large colony and possibly take another nuc later and still get a bit of a honey crop.

So being where I am : The nuc is going great on 3.5 frames of brood 5 frames of bees in a paynes poly nuc and ready to go in a full hive soon.

The main colony though is completely broodless (to be expected after taking the queen out three weeks ago) and very bad tempered. Even more so than usual. At the time of reducing to one q- cell I put a QX between the Brood boxes (so the upper one is now a deep super )

Timingwise I reduced to two open Q cells three weeks ago, down to one capped Q cell two weeks ago and last week left alone. Today - as I previously said really vicious and followy- though weather good

Ideally I want to end the summer with 2 full colonies, prefereably requeened with some more civilized stock.

Questions are :-
is it too soon to try a test frame ?
Are there mated queens available yet and how long could I expect to wait for one from someone like Ged Marshall or Hivemaker
Would it be mad to put the nuc into a full hive and combine over paper with the upper deep from the main colony thus making two more evenly sized colonies?

Any advice or alternatives gratefully received

D

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Way too soon to think of test frames - or even opening up yet. you're talking about a week and a half since the queen emerged?
I'd leave them another fortnight before opening up and checking for eggs, and even if I didn't find any I wouldn't panic but wait another week or two.
Yes there are mated queens available now but I wouldn't even toy with the idea of putting a new queen in or uniting with the nuc until;
a) I was sure the new queen in there had failed
b) I could catch her and squish her.

I have some nucs on the same timeline as your hive - haven't even thought of opening them up to check yet

 

[Curley]

Thanks Emyr - will leave well alone for a couple of weeks and check again (in full battle armour!)

 

[Erichalfbee]

couple of weeks and check again (in full battle armour!)

I bet you won't need it then