nuc box question

[justgojumpit]

hey everyone! i know i've been away for a while, but i have a problem.  Yes, i know... it's nearly midnight :roll: !  I built myself a second nuc box, because i'm selling two splits to a fellow who is painting our house.  i have one rearing its queen already for like 10 days, but once i finished this nuc box, i just couldnt wait to get bees in it.  so i did it just now.  by candle light (the flashlight died just as i had the hive opened) :roll: there was no way i could possibly find the queen, so i'll look for her in the nuc box tomorrow.  i figured, there are 20 frames in the hive, and i'm taking 4, and adding a frame of foundation "on the house."  that leaves me a 20% chance of getting the queen in there.  now one of these frames was capped brood. down to 15%.  and another frame is nectar. down to 10%.  we'll see tomorrow how bad my luck really is!  

my question is this: if the queen is in the nuc box, can i return her to the original hive, or will this hive no longer accept her?

thank you all so much!

justgojumpit

[Robo]

I appreciate your probabilty calculations, but beekeeping does not follow normal probability.  It is almost certain that the queen will be where you don't want her. :D

If you do find her in the nuc,  there should be no problem putting her back in the mother hive today.

[justgojumpit]

probability prevailed in the end (this time!) next time i may not be so lucky lol  :roll:

thanks for the quick reply, i will keep your advice in mind if i botch things in the future.

justgojumpit