So many beekeeping issues need to be identified and acted upon.

I started a nuc back in the Spring that did very well. So well that I was able to pull several frames of brood and boost several other hives. I even tossed in a frame of brood from it into a swarm I captured. To my thinking boosting other hives is the best use of nucs during the spring and summer.

Had I been paying attention to this nuc, I would have noticed that it was building swarm cells but I opted to take a short vacation without putting my bees on vacation hold. Bees being bees did what they wanted to do and swarmed. There went my beautiful, productive queen.

So now I have a 15 frame three super tall nuc with no queen. What happened to the replacement queen is a mystery. No eggs, larval or brood after about three weeks.  Off to my local queen guy once again. I may not be  a good beekeeper but I have lots of hope for success. I picked up two little beauties and will install one in the nuc. It is suggested that I leave the cork in for 6 days then release her so that the bees have a good amount of time to accept her. I’ll also throw a frame of brood into the mix to cover the bases. The second queen will be used to build a nuc from a very strong hive that I reduced down to four supers.

Now all I need is a bit of luck. Next is mite treatment. Stay tuned.