I set up a queen nuc (5 deep frames) as a starter hive, just as I did last year. I grafted last year successfully and got a few really nice queens out of it, so I have had some success at it before. This year, I put in a bunch of grafts and ... nothing. I checked after about 30 hours. I put in a second batch of grafts - again, nothing. So, I decided to get some queens without grafting and put in a frame with some open brood and eggs. Still - nothing! They aren't starting any queen cells.
So I thought, there must be a queen in there. I looked and looked for one. I can usually find the queens in my hives pretty quickly. I couldn't find a queen, and I'm doubly certain that there is no queen in there because all my other queens are accounted for.
Have you ever had a starter hive that just refused to raise a queen? What am I missing?
So I thought, there must be a queen in there. I looked and looked for one. I can usually find the queens in my hives pretty quickly. I couldn't find a queen, and I'm doubly certain that there is no queen in there because all my other queens are accounted for.
Have you ever had a starter hive that just refused to raise a queen? What am I missing?