oh well.....when i opened the nuc the swarm looked smaller than when on the tree. i'd have to down grade them to baseball size. i looked pretty good & in that small of a wad of bees the queen is usually easier to spot, tho i still could have missed her. the hive that i put the nuc is on top of is queenless. if there was a queen maybe she'll find her way into that hive.
just got a call so i'm off after another swarm.