Merged nuc with queenless hive... is it OK now?

[bison]

Two weeks ago I found that one of my hives was queenless. It also had very little stores of honey/pollen. Luckily I had a nuc available, so I merged it with the queenless hive using a newspaper combine (nuc moved to a brood box and on the top) and also added an internal feeder (the two frame kind) full of syrup and a pollen patty.

I inspected it yesterday for the first time. When I first opened it the bees were making a lot of noise so I initially thought they were still queenless, but after a brief inspection found the queen on a frame in the top box. I also saw capped brood. I didn't see eggs/larvae, but only looked at one or two frames and stopped looking after I saw the queen. The bees were working on the pollen patty, but hadn't taken much of the syrup. Not a ton of bees, not surprising given the situation.

My thought is that as long as the queen seems to be doing OK there's not much I can do at this point other than hope she produces enough bees to make it thru the winter. I do have a couple other hives so I could take a frame of bees from one if that's a good idea, though I'm somewhat reluctant to do so now if it might endanger the donor hive. I was surprised to hear them making so much noise as from what little I know that's a sign of queenlessness. Any tips? thanks!

[TheCompound]

I wish I had an answer for you. I did something similar a few weeks ago only to have the combined hive blown over during the 35 degree night in 50 MPH winds. Needless to say, my findings were inconclusive other than: a small cluster of bees left exposed in high winds and freezing rain tends to not survive.

I'm sure others have had results more useful for your situation!

[Lburou]

...snip...My thought is that as long as the queen seems to be doing OK there's not much I can do at this point...snip...

That sounds reasonable to me. Pollen patty, sugar syrup and time. Those capped brood are your winter bees. Keep an eye on them as cold weather approaches. When they won't take syrup, your last ditch effort (after taking honey frames from donor hives) will be to get the stores up with be some sugar or fondant on top of the frames if needed.

I have a queenless hive with a virgin queen due for mating flights this week. If that fails, my solution is to combine a five frame NUC and proceed as you did.

Good luck!

[bbrowncods]

I would probably estimate the weight if I could not weigh it. Agree with Lburou.

[sfisher]

Your capped brood wasnt drone brood was it?

[bison]

Your capped brood wasnt drone brood was it?

Nope, good old worker brood.

[LONNIE54]

Here in the Bay Area I have not had a problem with haveing enough storesfor the bees to make it through the winter. The last two years at the end of winter the bees were up two frames of honey. Now I am in the city ( Sunnyvale, CA) and there seem to be something blooming all the year long . I would think if you are in the city there in Greenbrae you should do ok.