Hello everyone!
I purchased a new nuc this year. Almost immediately I started having issues with them. The queen and her replacement died, and I had a very bad laying worker problem. My local apiary advised I just shake the bees and give up, but it was early enough that I thought I could help. I re-queened the hive, and they ended up killing her and re-queening themselves.
Over the span of this happening, their population never was able to fully recover from when they first had the laying workers. I ended up moving them back into the nuc box to help protect them because I noticed their frames, which had all been full, were suddenly stripped. I started feeding aggressively, but nothing has worked. The frames still remain empty. I am not sure if they are still being robbed or simply not able to keep up with their demand.
At this point in September, I was hoping they would be on the mend; however, they are not.
I am hoping someone has some guidance on what they would do moving forward! I had planned to combine hives, but I have heard that is not the best idea. It also breaks my heart to have to pinch their current queen as she is such an amazing layer.
Also, I have tested this hive multiple times, and they do not have a mite problem.