[jbraun]

On 5/1/14 I moved 4 frames with Queen cells into 4 nucs. They each had 2 frames of brood, one frame with pollen and one empty undrawn frame.

On 5/21/14 two of the nucs started queens, two didn't. The two that didn't has all of the brood hatched and is pulling in honey like crazy. Almost all of the pulled frames in the queenless hives are getting full of nectar. I moved them all into single deeps.

I think I need to combine them and make two hives from them. If I wait much longer will they turn into laying workers?

 

[RayMarler]

If you are sure that they did not have virgin queens emerge, then yes, I would join them.

Are you sure there is not a virgin queen in them? You said 4 frames with Queen cells, then you said 2 started queens and 2 did not, I don't quite understand that, sorry. Could it be that the two you think have no queens, maybe the queen cells did emerge and now they have virgins, maybe out on a mating flight the time that you looked?

 

[jbraun]

Ray,

I'm thinking there may be virgins that haven't started laying yet. According to my timeline the virgins may still have 5-7 days left before eggs happen. I'm probably getting anxious over nothing. I will wait another week before I do anything else.

The real problem that I see is lack of space for egg laying to happen in. Our flow is going strong and all cells have nectar in them. The two that had eggs in them the bees pulled some lumpy comb on a wide area at the end frame. I moved them into full deeps to give them more room for comb.

Thanks.

 

[RayMarler]

Great, you may want to put these two into ten frame boxes as well, so they know they have room to get going when the queen needs to lay. Or, put a second story nuc box on them. Once she mates and needs to lay, they'll start drawing comb and move honey up to give her room, if all you have is foundation frames.

 

[beepro]

Yes, they will turn into LWs if you waited too long to recombine them without existing new
broods. It is time for a thorough hive inspection to try to find a virgin or a mated queen. You
may be surprised if you find any new eggs in the potential queen less hives. Then you can do
an assessment on their present situation to decide what to do next.