Failed Queen?

[tararusiewicz]

Hi. I started at hive early April, and I just inspected and I see no evidence of the queen. No eggs, no larvae, and there are queen cells in the hive. Can someone help me figure out what to do next?
Thank you!

[Jacobs]

Were the queen cells capped or in the form of cups? If cups, were they empty or did they have royal jelly in them? What is the bee population in the hive like? If you are fairly confident that your hive is queenless, you may want to consider buying a new queen and introducing her--if the population of bees is reasonably decent so that she would have enough workers to take care of enough brood to allow the colony to build population. If you have queen cells developing, do not damage them or cut them out until you have your new queen and you are ready to begin the introduction process.

The soonest I would be able to come by would be very late Sunday afternoon. I'm not sure that the weather will be good then, but time will tell. I am also available Monday morning, but would have to be done by noon or so. Let me know if either time works for you. Also, let us know the answer to the questions I have asked about the condition of the queen cups/cells and hive population.

[tararusiewicz]

There were some queen cells that were capped, and some that were empty, but I am not sure about Royal Jelly.. not sure what that looks like. The bee population is good! There were bees on every frame. I saw evidence of the queen on May 6 when I did my last inspection (didn't see her, but did see larvae and eggs).
What is the timeline on this? Should I hurry up and order a new queen, or wait and see if they make a new one on their own?
I am home all day Sunday, but Monday I work until 12:30.
Thank you!

[Jacobs]

My neighbor and I are doing a small round of extracting honey in the morning. When we get to a stopping point I will call you. If the weather permits, we'll have a look tomorrow. There are a number of things that can be going on and the best thing to do would be to have a look so that we can try and figure what is going on and what the best course might be.

[Wally]

Unless Rob's inspection says different, I am going out on a limb and say your queen was superceded, as about half of package bees are. If that is the case, I would just leave them alone for about 2 weeks and check again.

Awaiting Rob's inspection results.

[Jacobs]

Nice calm bees. Nice fat queen walking around. Given the weather, I stopped short of a full inspection, moved undrawn frame and a half in and told Tara to stop feeding for 4-5 days. They may be nectar/sugar water bound. Once the weather is better and they have had a chance to consume some of the stored sugar water, Tara will look for eggs and possibly larvae. If there are eggs, it will be time to add a super and start feeding again. There was a really good population of bees in the hive.

[tararusiewicz]

Thank you for the help! I am so relieved. I will let you know how the inspection goes in a few days.

[tararusiewicz]

Finally got out to the hive today for an inspection. Didn't see the queen, but I definitely saw eggs and larvae! Lots of bees, and they were calm at first, but started to get annoyed with me, so I made it through about half of the frames. I added the super, and filled the feeder. The next time I go to inspect, I will start at the other end.
Thanks again for your help!!