Hello Paul & All,
Your methods are very primitive. In fact most beekeepers moved away from
those methods in the late 1880's.
The method you are using was first done in the U.S. by O.H. Townsend in
1880.
The method was improved by J. M. Brooks later the same year .

I know of no beekeepers in the U.S. today which use either the the Townsend
or Brooks methods if serious about a quality queen.

In 1883 Henry Alley improved the above methods and the birth of modern queen
rearing began in the U.S. You need to move from the Townsend/Brooks method
you are currently using to at least the still primitive (in my opinion) 1883
Alley method.

I can recommend excellent Queen rearing books Paul or by searching the
archives using the names & dates I have provided you can retrace beekeeping
history and improve your queen rearing and in my opinion the quality of the
queens.

That said. Henry Alley was the first (U.S.) to introduce the *swarming box*.
The *swarming box * was prepared by shaking a huge number of bees from hives
and became the *cell Builders*

Your nuc is in my opinion too weak to produce queen cells as each day
without a queen and emerging brood the population drops.
You can create a cell builder to start the cells then give those cells (or
just one) to your five frame nuc for hatching & mating.

Good queen cells are produced when queen cells are built with a large
population of bees so the cells  are well fed and cared for. If you ever get
the chance to tour a commercial queen rearing bee farm you will see what I
am talking about. Always feed when trying the get queen cells made or
introduce a queen!

Gook luck ! I do not believe the weather is your problem.

Sincerely,
Bob Harrison

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