No queen, honey in brood

[silverowl]

Hi we realised on our weekly inspection three weeks ago that our queen was missing. There were however capped queen cells 4 of them. A recent inspection shows 2 open queen cells, no evidence of eggs and the brood is being filled with honey despite having a super on. If we manage to get a new queen I am worried that she will have no where to lay eggs or will the workers move the honey to make space. I have a 14 x12 brood box. Can anyone give me some advice on what I should be doing. Thanks

 

[Davelin]

Waiting.... not much else you can do.

You may well have a virgin queen in there or one that has recently mated.
If she starts laying they will move stores to make room.

Your biggest problem may be that it is getting late in the year and you will just have to hope she lays enough to build up numbers for winter.

PS If you saw capped queen cells on your weekly inspection then they would have been there the week before. Too late now, but action then might have prevented the current situation

 

[JEP]

There is no need to panic, i would expect it to be another week before you see eggs from a new laying queen, don't worry about honey in the brood nest the bees will move it so long as there is space in the super.

 

[silverowl]

Many thanks for such a quick response. I guess I will just have to wait and keep my fingers crossed.

 

[beeno]

Hi Silverowl,
How are your bee numbers holding out? Theory states that original queen has swarmed and you may have had a cast if two virgins have emerged and two more to go if you still have capped QCs! Listen out for piping and quacking which means more than one virgin in there! Good luck.

 

[enrico]

It is still only July, loads of time for bee numbers to build up for winter, 1000 eggs a day!
It will all come right on the night... Good luck
E

 

[Charley]

This happened to us in June. Experienced beek told us not to panic but wait it out. Nearly five weeks before we saw eggs and brood. Very irritable bees in the meantime but lots and lots of honey. Hope your new Q shows herself soon.

 

[Minxpinx]

I am in the same position and time line. Trying very hard to be patient...

 

[silverowl]

Well the latest news is that we now have two laying queens and two hives. On the 6th August I noticed a swarm on one of our trees. We donned our suits, grabbed a box and caught the swarm. Hubby quickly put together our spare hive and we put the swarm into the new hive with some frames from the original hive. We then went on holiday and on our return, found a laying queen in both hives. Queens marked and all is well.

 

[REDWOOD]

All's well that ends well