Queen Not Found

[Pharmacyman]

I marked a new queen in this hive in August. I last inspected 4/12/23. At that time I couldn't find her but saw larvae (open and capped) in the bottom two boxes, so wasn't too concerned. Today I don't see any eggs, larvae capped or uncapped, and could not find the queen again. Lots and lots of bees. There are some empty queen cells but they appear small and some are distorted in shape.

Any suggestions for action I should take? Should I buy a new queen? I have no idea. Thanks in advance for your help.

[Jacobs]

Tough situation that can be made easier if you have another hive that has brood. I would take a frame with eggs and put it in the questionable hive. Check it in 4 days. If the bees are making queen cells, the hive is likely queenless and it would be a reasonable gamble to buy a queen, knock down the queen cells and then go through the introduction process. The brood pheromones will also help prevent a queenless hive from going laying worker. If the bees do not make queen cells, but simply raise the brood frame, there is a good chance that there is a queen in the hive. She just has not started laying yet.

If you don't have a brood frame, things get really iffy. If a hive swarms, Bush Bee Math says there should be a laying queen following a primary swarm at 2-4 weeks after the swarm. No eggs, larvae, or capped brood in your hive means no worker brood has been laid for at least 21 days and no drone brood for at least 24 days. You may have a virgin queen or a newly mated queen that has not started to lay yet, but if you don't see her and don't have a brood/egg frame to give you a clue, you may be spending money on a queen the bees will not want/accept. If your hive swarmed and then had after swarms, IF there is a queen, she may not get mated and start laying for even longer than the bee math time period. The longer a hive goes without brood, the more danger of it going laying worker.

Lots to think about. No absolutes.

[Pharmacyman]

I do have another colony with brood frames. I will give that a try tomorrow...putting a frame of brood with eggs in the hive and check back in 4 days. Thanks.

[Pharmacyman]

Today was day 4, so I checked the frame of brood/larvae for queen cells and didn't see any. It looked as though the bees were caring for the larvae, so maybe a virgin queen is there? Should I wait two weeks and check again?

[Jacobs]

That sounds like a reasonable plan. Your eggs and larvae should be capped around day 10, or in 6 more days. Once that happens, brood pheromones should not be involved in calling for feeding. Look to see if foragers are returning with pollen after all the brood has been capped. If they are, it is no guarantee, but it is a hopeful sign that the colony is preparing for a queen to start laying.

[Pharmacyman]

Good news! I checked the hive yesterday and was pleased to find multiple frames of capped brood and young larvae. I believe the frame of brood from the other hive you suggested worked, as I found one single empty queen cell on that frame that wasn't on there when I put it in. But looking at the timeline, could a queen have been raised and mated in time to produce capped brood I observed yesterday? At any rate, something happened and I feel much better about my colony's chances. Yea! Thank you!

[Jacobs]

You probably had a queen in the colony that had not started to lay. The timing seems too soon to have a queen made, get mated, and start laying. I have had bees make and cap queen cells and remove them when the established queen started performing to their satisfaction.

I'm glad things have worked out.