Colony depleted

[Midgey]

I created a nuc about 3 weeks ago with 2 frames of brood and bees and a new queen. All seemed to be going well until this evening when I have found almost all of the bees dead on the floor of the nuc and only a handful and the queen still alive. What can I do to save this queen? I have one other colony but I'm not sure that they are strong enough to donate brood/bees at this point in the season without jeopardising their survival too! Any suggestions gratefully received.

 

[Ian123]

Well firstly work out why the bees died, maybe lack of stores? If your other hive is a reasonable size they will easily provide a new nuc to introduce your queen to, how many frames of bees and brood?

 

[deemann1]

Might be struggling to fight off wasps

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

not much info - but sounds very much like starvation to me

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Colonies in poly nucs (poly recommended for jobs like this) can be remarkably robust but agree it sounds like starvation and they do starve. You can split onto your Q but feed everyone "2:1" (2kg sugar to 1.25l water).

 

[Midgey]

Sadly I think that you are right, I cant have been paying sufficient attention. I have started another nuc with the queen who survived and I will be feeding them like mad to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

 

[Ian123]

Keep the entrance small and don’t feed for a couple of days if you have made the nuc up from hive next door. Also make sure you don’t splash any syrup about.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Keep the entrance small and don’t feed for a couple of days if you have made the nuc up from hive next door. Also make sure you don’t splash any syrup about.

Good point. Robbing is a nightmare in this situation.