Hopefully these are queen cells... (also need advise)

[DamSutt1986]

I've had a queenless Nuc for a couple weeks now. I tried adding artificial queen cells twice and they didn't take. Today I saw these!

Apparently I was so wrapped up in making my own queens that I didn't notice they were already doing it. They are queen cells right? Not just huge drone? Lol

I am going to wait a couple days and then separate them. I'm not totally sure how yet. I am thinking I will cut each cell and attach it to a frame of brood. Take the nuc box and use screen to divide into 2 separate sections and try to basically raise 2 side-by-side 2-frame nucs just until the queens hatch. I will probably put 2 cells in each side, just in case. One queen will be going to a friend of mine and the other will stay and turn the original nuc into a legit colony.

Does this sound reasonable? I don't have another colony that I feel safe using to hold them until they hatch, in case they get through somehow and kill my proven great queens. I was thinking virgin queens can probably get through the excluder so screen might work better. Since I will be using the same nuc the foragers should just accidentally go 50/50 to each side.

[JRG13]

Just make sure the screen is small enough they can't fight or sting through it. Doesn't really seem like a good idea to me though. Just cut out the cell, and give it to your buddy??? They're a little close together too, but keep the bottom two together, the two above can probably be separated ok.

[DamSutt1986]

True. Maybe I should stop being cheap and just split them into 2 nucs. Or I guess I stop being cheap AND lazy, and I could build a couple 2 frame nucs My buddy is nervous about doing the split. I don't think he would feel comfortable just putting the queen cell in his split. He's helped me get started so I feel like it would be cool if I could give him the queen for his first split.

[balhanapi]

Those are queen cells but not great queen cells. More likely than not the bees are going to supersede the queen that comes out of those cells if she manages that far.
How strong is your nuc? In my experience you need a very strong nuc on a good honey flow to make some nice queen cells. A strong 2 story hive full of bees on a strong honey flow is what is ideal. Just my 2 cents.
I would leave them alone and see what happens.

[DamSutt1986]

It is NOT a very strong nuc.

I recently did a cutout in a barn and it was appx. 2 feet by 5 feet of comb. I took what I could fit (including the queen) and put that in a deep. Just to experiment I took some brood and stores, tied it up with some nurse/workers and dropped them in a nuc.

I thought the cells looked a little small. Maybe I should get rid of those cells now and encourage them to build out new ones while on a feeder? They were fed intermittently but I didn't know they had a queen bun in the oven. I don't want to give my buddy a crappy queen either.

[Lburou]

What was your thought process to conclude that the NUC is queenless? If they are queenless, they can't make more queen cells! I'm not sure they are queen cells....They could be empty queen cell cups (without larva). Watch those cups to see if they are enlarged. HTH

[DamSutt1986]

I added brood comb with eggs and larvae when I started it. The comb had tons of empty queen cells when I did the cutout. I tried not to add any of those to any of the frames that I tied-in, I didn't want to encourage a supercedure in the deep hive.

If need-be I will add another frame of eggs from my strongest hive to help them make more queens if these don't work out.

[Lburou]

I added brood comb with eggs and larvae when I started it. If need-be I will add another frame of eggs from my strongest hive.

Makes sense now, good luck! Try to get the youngest eggs possible when you do it again.

[Lburou]

When I did this last month, I found the frame the queen was laying eggs on, got her off that frame and put it in the NUC -that insured eggs young enough for a good queen. I now have a nice looking queen and she is laying this week! I'll try to upload a picture for you. She's my first raised queen in 30 years!

[DamSutt1986]

Nice! I'm excited about raising my first queens, but I don't want them to be un-fit. I'm really considering ditching these cells now to encourage healthier ones. Maybe they will take my grafted cups if I remove these cells. That will ensure they are large enough for solid queens.

[Lburou]

This is the new queen from a walk away split!

First homegrown queen 2012.jpg

[DamSutt1986]

She looks nice, maybe a little small? Maybe there's hope for mine being runts?


What do I know, I've had bees for 2 months haha.

[Lburou]

Yes, smaller than is commonly desired, but I'm ordering a couple Buckfast queens next week for the NUC that did not make a queen and to replace an average performer in an April NUC, maybe I'll order three!

[Eddie Honey]

Small? My smallest queens are my most productive this year. I did a trapout and had 1 queen cell like the one in the picture that a 2 frame nuc reared on it's own. The hive is smokin' now.
Check back in 2 weeks you'll be suprised.

[balhanapi]

She looks okay to me. Let them decide if they like her or not. Supercedure queens are the best in my experience. I would not replace a supercedure queen with any store bought queen before giving her a good chance. Sometimes they mate with locals and give some undesirable traits but generally they do best.

[DamSutt1986]

That's very good to hear Eddie. I was going to ask what the downsides to a small queen are. The only thing I could picture is size may be an indicator of how well they were fed, and thus how developed they are. Possibly physical reduction of the area that holds the eggs?

[DamSutt1986]

I checked back today and all the queen cells have been torn down.

I am relatively sure at this point, that this nuc box is being robbed in very large numbers. I wonder if just a small portion of the nurse bees 'live' there, and the rest of the bees that I see are using it like a second home from the hive next door.

Time to rethink my plan. I will probably dissolve this nuc into the hive next to it, and start again with new bees in my attempt to make queens.