OK, I went back into the hives today to get a frame of brood from the good hive to give to the suffering hive. Here is an example of the laying pattern of my italian queen:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ckyifj6t3tdla ... %20HDR.jpg
Not bad, eh?
I took the outer most frame that had a good combination of brood at various ages to put into the other hive. (not the frame pictured)
While I was in the other hive, I found a queen. So yes, it does have a queen:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/1e3t2iosf7518 ... .34.30.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ml8jpziq0qlmk ... .39.51.jpg
I spent my time checking every bit of open cells that I could see, and did finally find a few eggs.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3k0leqq0ff4ig ... .41.48.jpg
I'm not exaggerating when I say that these are the only eggs that I was able to find. There had to be at least a full frame and a half of open cells at this point, without anything in it. I watched her walk around for a couple of minutes, and despite walking all over open cells, she never backed into a single one.
I checked the queen cells as well, and they are still there. The cells have not been capped yet, so that means they are less than 8 days old, right?
So, guesses begin:
Crazy, inexperienced, beekeeper freaking out over nothing? (I think the queen cells rule this one at least partly out.)
Getting ready to swarm, and thinning her down so that she can fly; thus causing the drop in brood production?
New, post swarm, queen that just finished mating flights?
Poorly mated queen, and the bees are superseding?
Laying workers?
Zombees?
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)