No eggs or larvae for weeks now

[boosybees]

Please could the experienced beekeeping community please give me some advice about the situation that I now find myself in. This is the sequence of events (timings approximate)
1. 8 weeks ago put a super on the hive above a queen excluder as bees looked cramped and going on a weeks holiday. Marked queen present and all looked well
2. 7 weeks ago on return, no queen seen. Eggs and larvae. No queen cells. No apparent decrease in bee numbers
3. 6 weeks ago no change.
4. 5 weeks ago no queen, what looked like queen cells with larvae, some on face and some on edges. Panic
4. A few days later destroyed all but one sealed queen cell. no queen seen, no eggs
5. 4 weeks ago, queen cell empty, no eggs, calm colony good stores. no apparent decrease in bee numbers
6. 3 weeks ago no change. No eggs, no larvae, no queen ce.lls. good stores. Calm bees, lots of activity at entrance. A little pollen going in.
7. 2 weeks ago test frame of eggs and brood. Are they queenless?
8. 1 week ago test frame capped worker style. No queen cells. Calm bees
9. Yesterday: workers emerged, a few yet to do so. Still no queen cells, no queen that I can see, no eggs no larvae just a few sealed on test frame yet to hatch.

Questions:
1. Is it possible to have a queen bee in the hive that is not laying, but is preventing the colony from rearing a new one?
2. If I do have this scenario then what do I do if I cannot identify her in order to destroy her?
3. If I purchase a new mated queen, I presume there a high chance she will be killed by whoever is in the colony masquerading as a queen?

I am a novice (as I am sure you can tell) and I have an experienced mentor who is a little baffled at my situation too.

Any constructive advice most appreciated

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Why's it a puzzle? Sorry if as a new beek myself I'm missing something but it looks like you've lost a swarm and (hopefully) have a virgin waiting to come on lay.

 

[clv101]

4. 5 weeks ago no queen, what looked like queen cells with larvae, some on face and some on edges. Panic
4. A few days later destroyed all but one sealed queen cell. no queen seen, no eggs

It would be worth reading this excellent document:
There are queen cells in my hive - what should I do?

It certainly sounds like you have a virgin queen who hasn't come into lay yet. I don't think four weeks from emergence is unusually long.

 

[boosybees]

Thank you both. I'm clearly being too impatient. Thanks for your reassurances, I'll hang on another couple of weeks

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Well bump the thread in either case; it is most likely she is there but at some point it becomes less so.

 

[boosybees]

'Bump the thread'?

 

[madasafish]

'Bump the thread'?

You have just "bumped the thread" to the top of the pile by posting ..

 

[Nige.Coll]

if the situation doesn't change "bump" the thread.
enter a new post on it so it shows on new post list some simply type "bump" to do this.


In your panic you may have picked a scrub queen to keep.
One raised from a larvae not an egg so she could be small and hard to find.
I have always been told that if you have the choice always keep a queen cell you have seen inside and never the first one sealed .

 

[Dishmop]

4 weeks might seem to be a long time but last year I waited longer before I saw eggs.......They might be there but you just cant see them..

 

[Teemore]

Have you checked whether there is any brood in your super(s)?

 

[clv101]

Have you checked whether there is any brood in your super(s)?

I was in a similar situation recently, starting to get inpatient - then found the a supper laid up!

 

[BB King]

One of my hives superseded in April and it has taken 49 days to find eggs again. I had almost given them up as Q- and was preparing to add test frame.