The Queen Is Dead, Long Live the Queen!

I was right to worry. When I opened the new nuc yesterday, this is what I saw:

Meghan's nuc - the bottom box

Hatched brood cells, no eggs, no larva, no queen. For whatever reason, the queen cell did not turn into a successful queen. Maybe I killed her when I monkeyed with the hive last week, or maybe she never made it back from her nuptial flight. Or maybe something else went wrong. No way to know.

Queenless deep - the top box

This time, I'd come fully prepared to move the nuc into a new hive. I went ahead and moved them out of the nuc anyway so I could return the box to Winn on Sunday.

Then I consulted with Meghan and UM Bees beekeeper Parker Anderson. Their advice was to combine the queenless nuc with the nuc Meghan had set up for me a few weeks ago. This was an easier option than finding a new queen, and would theoretically give me one strong hive rather than two weak hives. The strong hive can hopefully be split later in the season.

New combined hive

So, I took the top board and telescoping cover off the queenless deep and Meghan's nuc and put a single sheet of newspaper over the bottom box. Then I stacked the queenless deep on the newspaper, replaced the top cover, and put the telescoping cover on at an angle to give the top bees an entrance.

Bees flying in and out of the combined hive

By the time they chew through the sheet of newspaper, they will be used to each other and (I hope) will not kill each other off. The queenless bees will be fully integrated into the new, stronger hive.

I wasn't sure that the bees would be able to find their way home, what with all the moving around. Both the top and bottom openings are in active use today, however, so I am hopeful that this strategy will work.