Queen cells from nothing? What's going on?

[Norvic_chris]

I collected a smallish swarm 3 weeks ago and have just checked it; there are no eggs or brood, just nicely drawn comb and nectar (no pollen). But there are at least 6 sealed queen cells! No idea what's going on!

Normally I'd pop in a frame of brood from another hive to see what's happening but I've not got any to spare. Help!!

 

[MartinL]

have you seen a Queen recently??
Probably best to leave them & see what happens.

 

[Finman]

.
Must be laying worker eggs. Bees try to do something from them.

Craft worker larvae into cells and you get something from them. But better to join the bees into next door. Swarm bees are old now. All are at the age of forager.
.

 

[Tony19]

I collected a smallish swarm 3 weeks ago and have just checked it; there are no eggs or brood, just nicely drawn comb and nectar (no pollen). But there are at least 6 sealed queen cells! No idea what's going on!

Normally I'd pop in a frame of brood from another hive to see what's happening but I've not got any to spare. Help!!

I've got the same situation, one unsealed queen cell,no evidence of a queen present but can't add a frame of brood or eggs as I'm new and this is my only colony.

 

[Norvic_chris]

Thanks MartinL and Finman -- I probably will leave it another week and if still no queen or evidence of a queen I'll probably do as Finman suggests and combine them with another colony.

Tony19 -- did you have a queen originally? Queens are sometimes hard to spot (especially young energetic ones) and eggs seem to get harder to see as the years go on (the beekeeper's years!).

 

[Norvic_chris]

Do you know what? I left them for several weeks and there seems to be a queen in that colony -- fair brood pattern but she didn't lay for at least 39 days, probably more. I had given up hope and was about to distribute comb and colony into a weaker colony. Just goes to show (not sure what exactly!).

 

[enrico]

It shows how much patience is needed to leave them alone to get on with what they do best.....surviving!