Should I break the queen cells after the first queen cell is hatched?

[john1]

Hi,
I have a nuc where there is no queen at the moment.
I have around 7 queen cells.

After the first egg is hatched should I break the rest of the cells?

OR, should I keep 1 or 2 queen cells and break the rest of the cells now - before they are hatched?

Thanks

 

[Curly green finger's]

When you say no queen have they swarmed or has the queen been killed for some reason?

 

[john1]

It is a new nuc I created.

I took 6 frames from my strong colony. The original queen is still in the original hive.
So, nuc is trying to have their queen.
Thanks

 

[Curly green finger's]

It is a new nuc I created.

I took 6 frames from my strong colony. The original queen is still in the original hive.
So, nuc is trying to have their queen.
Thanks

Ok I get you so the nuc are making emergency queen cells , I personally wouldn’t make a nuc and let them try and raise there own queen that way because the queens they raise won’t be of any good provenance.
In this situation I would buy a mated queen .

 

[gregior]

If it was a full size colony I would destroy all the other cells as long as you're sure there's a vigin still in there to prevent casts. In a nuc you're probably safer from casts and it's probably better to let the bees choose which virgin they want.

 

[Curly green finger's]

If it was a full size colony I would destroy all the other cells as long as you're sure there's a vigin still in there to prevent casts. In a nuc you're probably safer from casts and it's probably better to let the bees choose which virgin they want.

It sounds like he has queen cells not virgins in the nuc , it would be best to choose the best cell and knock the rest down .
Still raising queens in a nuc isn’t a good thing that’s why I suggested buying a mated queen

 

[Swarm]

It is a new nuc I created.

I took 6 frames from my strong colony. The original queen is still in the original hive.
So, nuc is trying to have their queen.
Thanks

When you created the nuc, did you also shake in three frames of bees to make sure they have a decent amount of nurse bees? I would return in four days to squash any sealed cells and keep one well charged open cell, this means the queen will have been fed properly from day one.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

it's a simple walkaway split, the bees remaining in the nuc have made EQCs.
you can, if you like go in and thin down the QC's to one good open cell.
Most people in this situation would just let the bees get on with it i.e. walk away

 

[ericbeaumont]

nuc is trying to have their queen.

It will produce one but it's not a good method.

make sure they have a decent amount of nurse bees?

Without plenty of nurse bees queen development will be retarded.

Better option would have been to park the queen in the nuc and allow the strong colony (with plenty of nurse bees to produce royal jelly) to make EQCs.

At that point you could have selected and left one, and once sealed, the rest could have been used to make 2-frame nucs.

 

[john1]

Thanks everyone,
When I created the nuc, I made sure I had enough nursing bees in the nuc.

Yes, I agree, I should NOT have done like this- leaving the queen in the strong colony.
I should have put the queen in the nuc, so that the strong colony can rear a strong queen.
Thanks