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No queen.... too late?
Hi all, first year bee keeper. Just went into the two hives to put in mite treatment. First hive, all went well, compressed the hive from 1 deep and 3 med to 1 deep and two medium, put the treatment in and put feeders on top.
Second hive was active but not as full of bees. started down sizing it, got the top me all full of honey, opened up the bottom two boxes to put the treatment in and there was no capped brood. Both hives, started as nuc's, were very strong all year producing plenty of hones and bees.
Question is, could I even find a mated queen to purchase yet and even is so, would it be worth it or should I call the hive a loss for the winter and plan on getting another one in the spring?
Thanks,
Dan



I agree with Jeff, a queen alone likely wouldn’t help and the odds of her being accepted are very low this time of year. You would need a strong nuc with a mated queen and do a paper combine with your current weak hive. As Jeff mentioned depending on how many frames of bees you have and assuming you are sure the second weak colony is not sick due to mite load you could consider adding them in a paper combine to your strong colony. If you want a strong nuc with a mated queen let me know I have several strong nucs that are available for sale and planning to combine some of them this coming week we some of my weaker colonies so I could save one for you. Email me at Celtic.gold.apiary@gmail.com if you want a nuc.