No Queen/eggs seen on new nuc.

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Willow

New Bee
Joined
Oct 7, 2009
Messages
12
Reaction score
0
Location
Suffolk, UK
Hive Type
WBC
Number of Hives
2
Can anyone help/put my mind at rest or even worry with me??? I received my first nuc on 26 June, transferred to hive next day and then checked 4 days later to see if Queen had been released. I released her and she looked ok. Today (1 week on) I checked hive. I couldnt find Queen or signs of eggs/larvae. Contacted my supplier, very helpful and was advised to leave 1 more week and would send a replacement Queen if still no signs. I'm worried now, just hoping my bees are going to be alright. A week is a long time for a 'worryguts' so any reassurance would be really appreciated. Thanks
 
Did this caged queen belong to these bee's,was she the mother to the bee's in the nuc and just caged for safety during transport or something like this,or was it a bung bee's in box with strange queen in cage,give us your money,and bobs your uncle and fannys your aunt type of nuc.
 
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Was this a nucleus sized package of bees? Certainly not what I would call a nuc. Certainly not the best way for a beginner to kick off with. What will they be selling next?

Looks like your 'supplier' may well make it 'right' but what if the next queen fails? You are right to be worrying if you paid good money for this.

Regards, RAB
 
It was a 5 frame nuc, with a marked mated queen, eggs, brood and flying bees. I dont know if she was the mother or not. They were certainly taking a non aggressive interest in her before I released her from her cage. The bees have been calm since I installed them and have been taking in pollen which I understand as being a good sign the queen is present/alive
 
Did you notice any emergency queen cells,being as the queen had been caged for several days,and did you just release the queen or break off the tab for the bee's to eat her out of the cage.
 
I found 2 queen cups same time as when I snapped off the end of queen cage. I flatterned the qc's should I have done that?
 
All comb has queen cell cups. Inconsequential.

I am presuming the nuc you brought had just been made up with a travelled queen, and that the queen was not the 'natural mother' of the bees. The combs and bees could have even come from three or four colonies.

The danger here is that the introduction of the queen did not work. It may have not worked for one of a couple of reasons: presence of queen cell(s) or preseence of another queen, like a hard to spot virgin queen.

Have another look for eggs. Hope that there is a queen of sorts in there.

Have a look on ground around your hive for dead marked queen.

If they killed the queen on release because 'they just didn't like her' emergency queen cells would have been raised assuming there was brood young enough.
 
Thanks all for your help and advice. I really want to open the hive but guess I've just got to be patient and let be. If the larvae was too old to develop into replacement queen, how long can they survive without a Queen?
 
Thanks all for your help and advice. I really want to open the hive but guess I've just got to be patient and let be. If the larvae was too old to develop into replacement queen, how long can they survive without a Queen?

If the queen was a newly mated virgin and the eggs seen were on a cobbled together nuc (another queen's eggs) then the queen (who could have ducked around the corner....assume you didn't smoke the nuc?) could come into lay in up to around 2 more weeks.

Look for polished cells...shiny, empty, ready for eggs.
 
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