Queen problem

[Matt1971]

My old hive is now queenless have search high and low for her.
This has been going on for quite a few weeks, tried to introduce
a frame from another hive with eggs and larva, about 5 queencells
where made but still no queen. Today notice just drone brood on a
few frames in singles every now and again. Does this mean i have
a drone laying worker? If i try and introduce just a new queen, or join a
nuc with a queen will the queen survive?

 

[Tom Bick]

What did you do with the 5 queen cells on the test frame? This was proof that your hive was Q-.

 

[BeeNice]

Have a careful look at the eggs in the cells if you have them, more that one egg, laid on the side of the cell, points to a laying worker or two. Make sure you come to the correct answer before you go any further. Read a book or two about laying workers or drone laying queen you will need to supply more info, how long ago has your hive been queenless, how strong the colony is. If you have a laying worker the answer could be that you change the frames and empty all the bees away from the hive, say 100 yds. Replace the hive back in its orginal place. The idea being that the workers will fly back but the laying worker (not been out of the hive) will not know where home is. Once you have a clear hive of layers you can introduce a frame of eggs from another hive or a new queen. But if you still have a layer then they may kill your new queen. Good luck
Steven

 

[Alf20]

When you say a few, how many? I did the same and left it 4 weeks before a test frame was introduced. The fifth week (today) new queen seen and no queen cells on the test frame.
So leave it until a little longer if you can. Then consider buying a mated queen etc

 

[Matt1971]

This is my first year of beekeeping so i thought i would get a new queen from one of these cells.

 

[Alf20]

How many weeks is it when you say "a Few"?

 

[Matt1971]

How many weeks is it when you say "a Few"?

I have not seen a queen in this hive for a minimum of 3 weeks. Its a strong colony lots of honey, pollen. i had 22lb of honey from this hive two weeks ago. First time honey for me.