Suspect Queenless Hive

[Bead]

Grateful for some advice, please. I got my bees last June and they overwintered well & built up nicely. I have a single National hive on brood and a half, with one nearly full super, and one empty one over the QE to give them room. 7 days ago, as I was doing a full inspection, I noticed HM (marked but not clipped) on top of a BB frame. Before I could do anything she took flight. I was dismayed, but thought she might come back in her own time, so I finished up and left. Kept an eye on the hive throughout the week, in case they might swarm, but nothing. Yesterday, I did a full inspection. No sign of HM, plenty of bees going about their business, a few drone cells, a healthy amount of sealed brood, and some uncapped larvae. No eggs, as far as I could see, though plenty of polished cells waiting for occupants. The other bees didn't seem cross or agitated, but the presence of larvae and no eggs made me think she might be missing. What to do next? Wait another week to see if empty cells increase, or look to requeen now?

I've had trouble finding her before, but there has always been eggs & larvae to indicate she was lurking somewhere.

 

[Tom Bick]

Sounds as like she has gone as I see it -

If it was an accident and for some reason she could fly and flew off then your hive will have a good few emergency queen cells in it by now.

If by chance your hive was on the point of swarming and the queen has been slimed down ready to fly with the swarm and took the opportunity to set off early and forgot to mention this to the rest of the bees then your hive would have had plenty of swarm cells in it during that inspection.

If by chance the bees are superseding the queen you may have missed the supersedure cell and you have a virgin queen in the hive, or even now a new mated queen, and the bees had started to ignore the old queen and she was getting slimmer and was able to fly.

 

[Bead]

Many thanks, Tom. Do you think I should wait a further week to see if a virgin queen appears? I didn't see any emergency queen cells when I looked yesterday, and I paid particular attention in case they were going this route.

Bees, eh? Can't live with them, can't live without them.

I'm going to a PBKA training session on Sunday, so will ask if any of the more experienced beeks would have a look through the hive with me. Unfortunately, I don't have a mentor.

 

[Tom Bick]

Yes perhaps give it another week but if possible to get a test frame with eggs on it into the hive it will tell you if you have a queen or not.

The polished cells are a good sign and the temperament of the bees to, also if you still have plenty of pollen entering the hive.

No harm in getting someone to take a look.

It can be hard work with just one hive the test frame for instance is easy when you have two hives.

 

[Midland Beek]

I would ask yourself if you are reading things correctly, and if you have missed things that were in your colony on a previous inspection, like queen cells.

If that had been your original queen that took flight the workers would have raised a batch of emergency queen cells. Point being, the queen that you saw took flight may have been a recently emerged virgin queen, and the fact that they have not made emergency queen cells would suggest that there is another unmated queen in your hive.