Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Since it was so nice yesterday, I took the opportunity to do a thorough inspection of my hives. I noticed one of them ONLY had capped Drones, and the queen was no where to be found. I have a VERY strong hive that has Drones in it, as well as LOTS of brood and eggs. Can I put a frame of bees/brood/eggs in that hive and let them raise a queen? If not, what could/should I do about it?

Thanks

Is it a drone laying queen or a laying worker hive? Even if you don't see the queen, single well placed eggs in the center of worker cells are an indicator of a queen's presence. Multiple eggs in cells, eggs on the sides of cells, and eggs on top of pollen are all indicators of laying workers. I generally don't try and save a hive that has gone laying worker. In warmer weather, I shake out the bees and let them try and gain acceptance into queen right hives. If I were going to try a newspaper combine, I would try combining them into one of my weaker queen right hives. If they march down and kill the queen, I haven't lost one of my strong, early build up hives. If they successfully combine, I have given a boost to one of my weaker hives.

I'm sure other folks have dealt with this issue and probably have better ideas than mine. I hope we hear from them.

I'm pretty sure it a laying worker hive. I only saw two patches about the size of your fist, one on each side of a single frame, of completely capped bullet shaped brood. The queen that was in there was marked. I couldn't find her anywhere in the hive. Had I found her, I would have condensed them down to a nuc.