cell problem

[cteddo]

I am trying to rear my first queens, grafting went fairly well, then cells were placed into styrofoam mini nucs. checked them today and many had holes chewed into the sides. I assume the queen was killed for some reason. the mini nucs have about a cup of bees each. What am I am doing wrong????

[Riverratbees]

Ok you said cells were placed in your nuc how many. Remember after a queen hatches she does just that and kills the other queens in the hive. Virgins can be very hard to spot. You might want to look around.

[cteddo]

I placed just one cell each. I had about 15 cells and 8 were chewed open. I am very confused.

[Riverratbees]

What about your nurse bee and drone ratio bees in your mini nucs.

[David LaFerney]

Were your mating nucs queenless for a while before you added the cells? Whatever it was try try again! BTW, without a picture it's hard to tell exactly what you mean, but cells that have successfully produced a queen get cleaned out, and the opening is often enlarged up the side. - so it may be normal, don't jump to any conclusions too soon.

[cteddo]

Extra bees were added when the cells were placed in the nuc. Ill try pictures. latter. But the cells are chewed on the sides , round holes.

[cteddo]

http://s804.photobucket.com/albums/yy323/cteddo/

[Michael Palmer]

Extra bees were added when the cells were placed in the nuc.

The cells were killed by the bees. They look like cells killed when a queen or virgin is present. That's not possible from your description. I wonder if adding additional bees when celling the nucs might have had something to do with it.

[cteddo]

Thanks for the replies, as I said I have alot to learn. could some of you walk me through your procedures of setting up your mating nucs, timing, amount of bees, etc. thanks