Okies so trhe two nucs.............one going like a house on fire, huge amount of bees, 10-20 per second coming and going.
The other nuc, oh dear, a handful of bees, no stores to speak of, no pollen, a few capped and emerging brood, and I mean a few, maybe a coupla dozen.
One big bee was running from me, hiding, maybe a queen? but no covered frames of bees, nuttink, nada.
One every minute entering this hive.
Should I swap locations? How do I transfer a frame of brood and nurse bees making sure there is no queen among them? or should I just wait and see?
Its as though all the bees from this nuc have jumped ship and gone to the other hive.
I did put a frame of last years honey in with them a month ago, it doesnt seem to have been added to, if anything its a lil less than when I put it in.
So two nucs, purchased same day, one going mad, the other struggling, both within 20 feet of each other.
Plenty of food around, nice weather, lots of pollen and honey in the strong one.
Im stumped.
Is there such a thing as a lazy queen?