New queen and queen cells

[Karsal]

I've had a hive that had been queenless for several weeks and I popped a sealed queen cell in from another hive. I then left the hive for three weeks unopened.
On opening the hive to do an inspection there was one frame of BIAS and eggs with 4 queen cells three unopened and one capped. I could not find the queen on any frame.
It seemed odd that a new queen would lay up a full new frame then leave. Does this often happen?

 

[B+.]

It seemed odd that a new queen would lay up a full new frame then leave. Does this often happen?

Are you sure she isn't in there somewhere?
I have commented in this forum already of having seen a few cups with eggs from newly mated queens. I don't know why they do it but it makes sense from an evolutionary point of view. The colony may have been without a queen for several weeks, during which time most/all of the worker brood will have emerged. If something were to happen to their newly mated queen, the whole colony would be doomed (since they have no other eggs). Perhaps this is natures way of ensuring the survival of the colony.

 

[Tom Bick]

Sounds like you never checked to see if the queen cell was accepted or if it survived any possible transportation and handling.

Was it worker brood amongst the brood and was it in a nice neat pattern.

I have a hive a split from a colony left them to requeen but they have almost filled the bb with honey cough me out a bit as i have had some big nectar flows lately and they have a small patch of brood from the new queen and a few queen cells and hardly surprising given the honey blocked bb.

 

[oliver90owner]

She was clearly there three days ago, or less. How old were these eggs?

Have you considered that the queen may have been somewhete other than on a frame?

Have you considered that it may have been simply you failing to spot/locate the queen?

I suggest, as a first check before panicking and posting here, you check in another couple of days to see if there are any more eggs laid. A damaged, or otherwise faulty queen, may well be superceded early.

It does seem odd and, no, it does not happen often. Well, not that often. But it can happen, so watch and take appropriate action, is my advice. The simple option will, hopefully, soon become clear.

 

[burren]

Hi Karsal, What happened, any update on this?