>... In my opinion, by putting frames of eggs and
>young brood into a nuc, you will be trying to get too much production
>from too few bees.  I don't think that a nuc will be able to raise a
>good queen from scratch.  If you get anything at all, she will likely be
>a runt.
>
>Ted Fischer
>Dexter, Michigan USA
 
I have used combs containing *sealed* queen (swarm) cells in making up
nuclei, and this has worked out fine.  Since the q. cells are already
sealed, the feeding of the larvae is complete, and there are enough bees in
a nucleus to keep a q cell warm (if in late spring).
 
Trying to raise new q cells in nuclei is another story.  I don't think the
resulting queens would be of very high quality, as the number of bees to
care for the brood, and the available resources would be so limited.  The
queens I've raised in observation hives have always been lousy.
 
Here is something that *does* work, even if it's not very complex:
At the peak of spring buildup, I remove the queen from a strong
overwintered colony, putting her and a couple frames of brood/food/bees in
a nuc box (temporarily).  Then I supply the big "dequeened" colony with a
steady supply of sugar syrup, to keep food coming in despite changes in
weather.  Ten days later, bingo,  there are usu. dozens of queen cells, all
sealed and ready for use.  (Any scrawny ones are discarded.)  The resulting
queens IME have been of very high quality, over all.  Certainly no worse
(and often much better) than any mail-order queens I've obtained.
 
The key to this is in having a really populous colony with plenty of
resources construct and care for the q. cells.  Even a few colonies treated
this way will result in a large number of sealed cells ready for use.
 
JWG               Freeville, NY