Hi,
I got a Nuc the other day from a breeder and was told to keep the bees in the Nuc for at least a week. The new queen was in a cage and had been put in there on Wednesday and he noted she has recently hatched. Today (Saturday) I wanted to check on the colony today because we have had a lot of hot days and also about 50ml of rain in the last 24 hours. The queen is no longer in here cage but I also can’t find her in the hive. There’s small lava and brood and honey but I cannot see any eggs. Now there is a very good chance I am not skilled enough to see the eggs or the queen but I wanted advice. Could she just still need to be mated and I didn’t spot her? Should I wait a few days and check again or go ahead and order a new queen? And advice would be greatly appreciated.
If you saw young larvae then that should be good enough evidence for the queen for now.
The caged queen placed in the nuc should already have been mated and again, if you see young larvae then that is evidence of that a laying queen has been there within 3-5 days ago.
Perhaps wait another week and look into the cells with the sun behind your back for tiny rice grain shaped eggs in the bottom-center of the cells.
You may need to transfer your nuc to a full sized box relatively soon.
If you have any doubt, I think you should check with the supplier as to whether the queen was mated, or not.
I definitely wouldn’t order a new queen yet.
When you say “small lava & brood”, do you mean brood that is older than small lava? Which makes me wonder if brood in all stages was supplied with the nuc., & not necessarily progeny of the queen that was supplied.
It’s important to know exactly what the nuc consisted of during the purchase, rather than second guessing.
I suspect it is an inmates queen. When I picked them up the breeder was in a rush so he was talking while walking away but I’m pretty sure he said that she had only hatched a few days earlier. Which will be why there’s no eggs, I just hope that they haven’t killed her 
. There is brood at different stages. Young and older lavè as well as capped brood. A few empty queen cells as well but I believe that’s normal given they just got a new queen?
Hopefully the bees haven’t killed her. Wait about 12 days from when you picked them up before looking again. If she got successfully mated, you should start to see eggs by then. If not, wait another 7 days, if no eggs by then, it’s time to think about adding some brood in all stages so they can make a new queen.
Happy to say I have done another check of the hive this week and found the queen and she is laying eggs. Patience was the key! Thanks for the help.
Beautiful queen photo. Well done! 
I totally agree with @Dawn_SD , she IS a beautiful queen.
Patience is the key in most instances. We need to be prepared for the odd occasion when things don’t work out for us. One of the first things I remember reading that stuck in my head was that roughly one in seven new queens fail, which I have found to be true with my own queen rearing operation. That number rises sharply when I do inspections after the queens have emerged. That’s why I try to avoid inspections between about day 10 & 28 after taking the split.