Queen still alive after a dead out

[Bakersdozen]

This has not been a great year for beekeeping. Mites are a big issue. I was cleaning out my second dead out (already!).  Of course, both were my big honey producers this year. I had the boxes in the garage and was getting ready to put moth crystals on them when out walked the queen.  She was all by herself.  I scooped her up and put her in a jar with my hive tool.  I found 4 more bees and put them in with her.  I think it got down into the 40's last night.  I don't know how she survived.  I dribbled a couple of drops of honey and she began eating.  Now, what to do with her?  What are her chances of surviving?  This is the first time this has happened to me!

[Jen]

Well that is a pitiful situation Baker. Is there a way to pull a quick nuc? a frame of brood from other hives? All that you would need is 3 frames of brood, a frame for queen to lay in, and a frames of food.

I know it's late in the year, but sure would like to give that queen a chance.

[Bakersdozen]

I thought of that.  Would I be dooming the frames of brood and nurse bees?  I do have a couple of colonies that I could pull brood from. 
The drought and high mite counts are taking a toll. 
I thought about what I found as I disassembled the boxes.  It had been robbed and the wax moths were just starting to move in.   There wasn't any dead bees just wax cappings on the bottom board.  Would they have absconded and left the queen behind?  My second treatment of Apiguard was about 1/2 gone.  I had gotten 4 supers of honey off of this colony (in a drought!).  I pulled the supers as soon as I could so that I could do mite treatments and had given 1:1 sugar syrup, in a bucket feeder on top, which it was gone.

[Jen]

If I remember right, the queen will loose her pheromone after a certain amount of time if she's not being tended to by the nurse bees. And..if I remember right, that's about 2 weeks, I think?

Do you know how long it's been since this queen has had a colony surrounding her, and feeding her?

[Bakersdozen]

I decided that a learning experience is never a bad or wrong decision.  I attempted to make a nuc with the found queen.  The bees tried to ball her and I had to retrieve her. Then she managed to get away from me and flew off.  She might have been a virgin or had lost some weight over the ordeal.  Now she is the subject of an experience to share on WWB.   

[Jen]

Kudo's to you Baker for at least trying.