[doodlebug]

We just installed 2 nucs today. Both of us are too new to be able to recognize the queens. One hive is very loud, the other not so much. We saw what I believed to be capped brood and some uncapped cells with liquid in them. On the loud hive there was a small queen cell with the bottom chewed out. I'm wondering if the loud hive has a virgin queen because they superceded the queen that was originally in the nuc? Does a loud hive mean they are possibly queenless? We put the hive top on both of them and checked back in a couple of hours. Both hives still had plenty of bees on the front of them and both hives already had bees bringing in pollen. Should I just wait for a week or so before opening them back up to check for queen, eggs, or larvae?

 

[burns375]

Yes roaring hives can mean queenless, but queenright hives open a little too long can start to roar too. Look for eggs and how the brood is capped for queenright. The torndown queen cell could have been from when the nuc was originally made.

I would contact supplier if you determine the hive is not queenright.

 

[Beregondo]

If the bottom of the queen cell is chewed out on the side, the queen pupa that was in it was killed by an existing queen or the bees after deciding that they didn't need it.

If the bottom of the queen cell is chewed out in a nice circle around the very tip, a virgin queen that has emerged from it.

If you just got the nuc, you have no way of knowing whether it emerged inot your nuc, or the hive that frame came from when the nuc was made up.

If you don't have eggs or larvae after three days of leaving the nuc undisturbed, contact your supplier and advise them you don't have a laying queen.
Even if you have virgin in the nuc, you didn't buy just 4-5 frames of brood...a nuc includes a mated, laying queen.