# Queen cell decision- make a nuke?



## beestudent (Jun 10, 2015)

Make a nuc from the original hive, they may be thinking of swarming, take the queen with them. you can make the 6-frame nuc easy, just make sure to not damage those queen cells! + Leave the q-cells with the original hive. they should do great!


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

banking the current queen in a small nuc box makes sense until you see whether or not they are successful getting a new queen off from those cells. if not you can combine them back. sounds like some interesting bees. welcome to the forum!


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## Outdoor N8 (Aug 7, 2015)

I had not even considered moving the current queen over to the nuc.
Could/should I still move over a frame of Italians with capped brood? even though they are large/ Rite-cell bees? Other than tricking them and suppressing potential swarm desire, what other benefits are there to moving the queen to the nuc?

She has the ability to lay immediately and new brood emerges in 21days vs 30-34 day with the queen in making?


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

after rereading your first post i see that the cut out colony making the queen cells may not have enough resources to split out their queen and make a nuc from them. it makes more sense to transfer the cells into a nuc with some resources from your italians as you are considering. it wouldn't hurt to check the cut out colony a week later to see if they have made any more cells, and if so let it play out.


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## Outdoor N8 (Aug 7, 2015)

Well, nothing ventured nothing gained. Made the 6 frame Nuke today.

Went through the cut out hive slowly and the only queen cells were the three I mentioned above. (side note, added a second hive body on them) Transferred those along with one frame of predominantly closed cell mutts with attendants. And a frame of open brood Italians with their attendants. Plus two frames of foundation.
Then did sugar rolls out of the mutts and Italians, dang mites; but dumped the powdered up girls in the nuke too. Figured any foragers would fly back to their respective hives but nurses would add to strength. 
Also gave them a 3/4 capped frame of honey, 2Tof Ultra bee pollen sub.via index card on the top bars and will start 1/1 feed tomorrow.

So, a week from now, we'll see what has transpired. And will be certain to double check in the cutout hive for new Qcells as suggested squarepeg.


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## Outdoor N8 (Aug 7, 2015)

To follow up; things have been interesting/unnerving.

On the 25th I went in the nuke and the queen cells were open, but try as I might (on 4 packed frames) I couldn't find a queen. And they were loud and feisty. I started feeding them 1:1 anyway. 
Today, Sept. 1st, I gave it another real slow go over (I was giving up and ordering a breed Queen); and there she was, scurrying all over the place, sticking her head in cells. Never did see her lay but there are a couple dozen small 'shrimp' larvae.

The cut out is a different matter. When I moved the queen cells over there were eggs in about every available cell. On the 25th after inspecting the nuke I opened up the cutout. No larvae, No eggs! What the heck happened? They removed EVERY egg! I couldn't make heads or tails of it. Went ahead and reinspected real slow today and there on frame 6 were 5 Queen cells! And one of them Was loudly PIPING! SO I finished up my inspection by having frame 2 -drop all the comb out of the frame! I guess they hadn't attached the comb well enough, UGGG!! straightened that mess up and then just closed them up. Will she emerge tomorrow? will have to look that up.

Just when you think everything is messing up; the bees straighten it out for you.
Still, I wonder what happened i the cut out- why did they remove the eggs?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

The bees want their own eggs because they are 
very particular. I should say this type of bees are a bit choosy.
Maybe that is why they are able to maintain their black color. Picky little
black bees that is hard to requeen. Any pics you have to share?


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## aunt betty (May 4, 2015)

Had a package this spring that was a mixed up bunch of bees. I called them "lucky charms" because they were every color of the rainbow. They let their Italian queen lay a few frames of eggs, got rid of her, let the new queen hatch, mate, laid a few eggs and they got rid of her too. They repeated this one more time. (it was un-nerving). Finally they settled on a queen AFTER all the black bees died of old age.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Yep, I made new queens all summer long until now.
Gave this one hive many big fat juicy queens. They all
got rejected and finally settled down on a queen that is disabled on
the right leg though she can still lay but slowly. I think this queen will
be superseded in the Spring time. Must be that the weather is gradually turning
cooler at night so they know that winter is just around the corner. Maybe that is why
they tolerated her for now.


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## Outdoor N8 (Aug 7, 2015)

To follow up:

The nuke is going gangbusters! I saw the queen before I left for business and she was small and running all over the place, looking in every empty cell she could find but not laying a thing. 19 days later, she is FAT and has the longest abdomen of all my queens, slow and stately, laying eggs and producing a solid brood pattern! Bonus, these guys seem to be hygenic with several purple eyed pupae uncapped. (the parent colony cut-out produced no mites in a roll test ).

The cut out is another story. The day before I left, there was a piping queen in a cell. I t appears that she flew off with a swarm. The wife caught it- but we are not totally sure; perhaps it was a queen escort? (wishful thinking?) Either way, there is one frame of larvae and reverse side is capped brood. It kinda fits a 19 day / virgin queen pattern.

Both are draining the supplement 1:1 yet ignoring the pollen sub. and are just bringing in their own.


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

thanks for the update n8, glad to hear things are working out.


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## Joel (Mar 3, 2005)

and somewhere at the NSA, some poor computer geek is looking at the "make a nuke' post on Beesource and saying, those darn beekeepers are at it again!


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## Outdoor N8 (Aug 7, 2015)

Long term follow up:

Everyone came through winter; pollen is coming in like mad and tomorrow the nuke is going into a 10 frame deep, the single deep (cutout) is being supered.

Bee's just want to succeed!


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## squarepeg (Jul 9, 2010)

excellent!


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