Both my hives were attacked by a bear and they are queenless since May 8th. I have lots of capped brood, but unsure if they are viable at this point. No eggs or larvae. So, they are hopelessly queenless, I do not have any egg donor frames and I can't get a queen until May 21st.
My Plan:
I can get a 5 frame nuc now. I am thinking of putting frames with the most eggs/brood and queen in my weakest hive and one frame of eggs in my strong hive to suppress laying workers. On the 21st, I will add the queen to the strong hive.
Questions:
Can I just wait until the 21st and get 2 queens or am I risking the hives going to laying workers? It would be about 18 days from going queenless before the queen is released and laying eggs.
Any reason to put the queen in the weaker hive? My reasoning for going with the strong hive is that I have a chance at some honey with one strong hive. Of course, this all depends on whether the capped brood is viable. As it is, I have lost the maple flow and will miss most of the dandelion which is just starting here.
I was going to call the nuc seller and ask if he could make up one with all frames of brood and no stores. I have plenty of frames of honey banked. Is there any reason why he should charge more? Not saying he will, but started wondering if brood is more valuable than honey and pollen.
Thanks for the input. J