Nuc lost Queen, what to do?

[Luka22]

Hi,
I have checked our Nuc yesterday and found a nice shaped QC. I would guess it will be capped in 1 or 2 days, maybe even today. I could not see a Queen, so I have to assume that the Queen is gone or dead. We do have huge problems with wasp, so she might have been killed by them. I have now got 1 Apidea which I think is ready with a mated Queen. My original plan was to make another nuc out of the Apidea, with frames from my strong colony, but I wonder now, if I should move the Queen into the Nuc instead because it starts to get late in the year? The QC looks very good, so it's a bit of a shame to destroy it and how big is the risk that the Nuc would kill the new Queen, since they have build the QC already?

Look forward to some advice.

 

[oliver90owner]

You should not assume.

Any eggs?

Wasps do not just go into a colony and kill the queen.

 

[Luka22]

I will have a quick check again and update soon, maybe I did miss her.

 

[Luka22]

I have just checked the Nuc. The perfectly shaped QC is now capped. I saw a few Larvae on 1 frame and very few eggs, bug again no Queen. There are so many wasp around and I think they have attacked the hive strongly. During inspection, I killed at least 20 wasp going in and out the Nuc. There are only few bees left in that Nuc, so I am sure that I did not oversee the Queen. But as said, I did see very few eggs but about 3 cells I found with multiple eggs, 6 eggs in one was the worse. Maybe a laying worker?

I would think about the following steps

1. Take 2 Frames of Capped Brood from strong Hive with Bees on it, if available to get them strong again to fight the wasp
2. Keep Feeding with Neopoll
3. Either let them wait for their Queen to hatch and mate OR
   Take the Queen from the Apidea, plus combine the few Bees from the Apidea.

Step 1 and 2 is a must I would say otherwise they will be dead in a few days, but what about the Queen?

 

[oliver90owner]

Personally, I think you are on a loser with that nuc. It seems that wasps will rob it out completely in a short time.

Starting nucs at the wasp season is folly unless very strong - and the donor colonies are strong, too. Especially so when the wasps are as persistent as you are seeming to say. Are they going in the entrance?

I would be using young proven queens for replacing old ones, not setting up weak nucs.

Sorry if I seem a bit negative, but that is my view of it.

 

[Luka22]

I totally agree with you, that our timing is very bad and this is the lesson I learnt. I tried raising Queens from May on, but was unsuccessful in the beginning. In the end it worked and that is why I am sitting there with 4 Apideas hoping they survive the Wasp and a weak Nuc. I just checked the Paperwork again and I did put down to check the Nuc for eggs on the 20th of August, so it is a very young Queen, if she is still alive. The Wasp come through the Front door, I got the Standard Nuc Entrance Block inside, I will close this off even more. I will check one of my few stronger Hives and see if I can take 2 Frames of and if there are enough Frames available, I might set up another Nuc for the Mated Queen. The weather is still great, Sunny and very warm, there is Pollen in the Hives and I have 2 Hives with 2 BB on there which I did on purpose to have drawn Frames when needed. I hope they did do the work for me, so that I can now move some Frames. Hope this is the right decision.