Queenless or is there a virgin Queen?

[MonicaB]

Hi everyone, I’m after a bit of advice on determining if my hive is now Queenless.

A little over 6 weeks ago my colony swarmed and I collected the swarm and Installed it into a new hive.

I then inspected my original hive 12 days ago there were capped worker brood and some larvae. So they can’t have been laid by the old Queen. I didn’t see any eggs though.
There were also capped smooth Queen cells.

Today inspected again there were no eggs, no larvae, no brood except a little drone. Opened Queen cells. And lots and lots of drones.
I think I need to establish if this hive is queenless or has a virgin Queen? My worry is that there were such a large number of drones.
Should I just be patient?

Any advice much appreciated

 

[Ian123]

I’d suggest you’ve got a queen that’s failed to mate properly. She could be lost and you’ve laying workers or she could still be in there, both are possible! If there’s few bees left I’d shake out, if you assess there’s still a reasonable number you could unite. But I would only if I could find and dispatch the queen.

 

[MonicaB]

There’s a lot of bees still in there. Shall I look for multiple eggs to work out if it’s laying workers?

 

[Erichalfbee]

There’s a lot of bees still in there. Shall I look for multiple eggs to work out if it’s laying workers?

Strangely this year I have found masses of drones and I mean masses in two hives with virgin queens.
could you try a test frame?

 

[MonicaB]

What would a test frame involve? I’m loathe to interfere with my other hives which are a bit small as it is. I’m not sure I’ve got a test frame to spare.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Take a frame with eggs and young brood. Shake the bees off it. Put it in the suspect hive for three days. If the hive has a queen the bees will simply look after the brood. If there is no queen they will start emergency queen cells. You can take the frame out after three days and return it whence it came so no loss to the donor.

 

[MonicaB]

Ok great this sounds doable, and if there’s no Queen I can attempt to add a new Queen.

 

[ericbeaumont]

Shall I look for multiple eggs to work out if it’s laying workers?

Multiple eggs could be either laying workers or a new queen starting out.

 

[oliver90owner]

You appear to have at least three hives? If they are not strong colonies, I would be looking towards uniting before winter, not putting in another queen which may not be particularly strong, come time for winter clustering. That would mean I would not be purchasing a queen for a weak colony

I would expect there is a queen in there, likely instigated because the workers found the other queen damaged in some way, so replaced her PDQ.