capped Q-cell in Nuc? thought it was a bit late and do I risk it

[Nightynight]

Hi,
I have a nuc set up in late June with the intention of over-wintering, this one has always been a little weak with a rather small very dark queen, with a bit of extra feeding and placing brood from another hive early on there are plenty of bees and she has been laying.

On inspection of the nuc this week I couldn't find the queen but there was brood in various stages in the normal laying patterns, still a smattering of drones and drone cells generally located near the base of combs and a single capped Q-cell.


Now I assume supercedure of a weak queen but i haven't had it happen this late in the year before so is that a problem?

Secondly the mother was obviously not great so would it be better to re-queen at this stage with a possibly more (hopefully robust) queen via a supplier.. if they are still selling as leaving it and finding I have a poor queen in late september is not a good situation?

 

[milkermel]

think i saw a post today (or was it yesterday) of someone offering a queen? If you have a queen in there now, would it be worth letting her overwinter and keep the bees happy then replace in the spring if you are worried about the strength of a queen now?

 

[Midland Beek]

Credit to those bees for trying to supersede. I would be inclined to give them their chance, and you might not be able to get a queen this late in the season anyway. If you have a strong colony you might want to give this weaker one some sealed brood.

 

[Busybee123]

Hi Nightyhight,

Personally I would leave them to it and see what happens. Your existing queen is most likely still there and if the bees go ahead with the supercdeure and the new queen does not get mated then I would guess that they would stick with the existing queen (as this would be the best option for survival of the colony). I don't think they would get rid of the old queen until the new queen proves herself to be superior.

Tom

 

[Nightynight]

Hi Nightyhight,

Personally I would leave them to it and see what happens. Your existing queen is most likely still there and if the bees go ahead with the supercdeure and the new queen does not get mated then I would guess that they would stick with the existing queen (as this would be the best option for survival of the colony). I don't think they would get rid of the old queen until the new queen proves herself to be superior.

Tom

Thanks, on balance I think your right.