What is going on no queen ????

[Rock_Chick]

I’ve one colony double brood went queen less about 5 weeks ago, so queen cells nothing, she just vanished. I put a test frame in with eggs and young larvae, again nothing. I’ve been though this colony with a fine comb, there is definitely no queen present. Even the noise they make says no queen. I took a gamble and got a queen. checked yesterday and she’s not there ( this is why i Don’t gamble I lose ) I’m at a loss with this colony on what to do. They now have fulled the bottom brood box 11 frames with pollen and the top is getting full of honey and pollen.

 

[drex]

The negative test frame shows you likely had a queen there already. She has killed off your bought in queen. I think you acted in too much haste. I allow a good 6 weeks for queens to come into lay.

 

[Rock_Chick]

The negative test frame shows you likely had a queen there already. She has killed off your bought in queen. I think you acted in too much haste. I allow a good 6 weeks for queens to come into lay.

there is definitely no queen. Just the fact of the noise they making, not leaving and room for her to lay, bottom brood 11 frames of pollen wall to wall, top brood box going same way, plenty of room in supers to store. So even if queen in there in room to lay!!

 

[drex]

I often judge a hive as queen right by noise and behaviour, but they can be agitated and roar for many different reasons. If no queen, why did they not make queen cells ( sometimes they won't) but I would have put in another test frame. Hives are rarely queenless. I am OK at spotting queens, but even then can often not find her.

 

[SWEET]

I've had around 8 hives Q- over the past month or so (no queen/eggs/brood), test frames showed zero interest by the workers. This week I've found Queens in all those hives.

Some of these stocks showed all the classic signs of being Q- (if you believe it's that simple)

So off the back of this, zero interest in test frames = Q+ (laying workers will be obvious and for another thread)

Just to add, ALL the Q- stocks are busy creating cells and should be emerging very soon

 

[RogerIvy]

I had one colony that I thought was queenless. I had two separate people search with me.
I put in a test frame …. nothing.
Finally my son and I did one last check before ordering a queen. We found her hiding in a gap between comb and frame. Such a shy girl. We managed to mark her and have seen her once or twice since. Always hiding.

 

[Rock_Chick]

So saying there is a queen in this hive, whey would they not leave her space to lay, double brood 1 wall to wall with pollen and the other fulling up with honey, there’s plenty of room in the supers ( and what do I do with 11 frames of pollen )

 

[Swarm]

I had one colony that I thought was queenless. I had two separate people search with me.
I put in a test frame …. nothing.
Finally my son and I did one last check before ordering a queen. We found her hiding in a gap between comb and frame. Such a shy girl. We managed to mark her and have seen her once or twice since. Always hiding.

I pointed one like this out to my landowner, I just caught a brief glimpse of her red legs in the gap between comb and bottom bars. She is a recent supersedure queen and there was no way she was coming out onto the comb.

 

[enrico]

So saying there is a queen in this hive, whey would they not leave her space to lay, double brood 1 wall to wall with pollen and the other fulling up with honey, there’s plenty of room in the supers ( and what do I do with 11 frames of pollen )

Sadly they are not that clever. Take a frame of food out of the middle and replace it with an empty comb. Once she has started to lay they will move stores upwards.
Have a read of this
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/two-years-in-and-i-think-i-am-queenless.48296/

 

[Kaz]

I’ve one colony double brood went queen less about 5 weeks ago, so queen cells nothing, she just vanished. I put a test frame in with eggs and young larvae, again nothing. I’ve been though this colony with a fine comb, there is definitely no queen present. Even the noise they make says no queen. I took a gamble and got a queen. checked yesterday and she’s not there ( this is why i Don’t gamble I lose ) I’m at a loss with this colony on what to do. They now have fulled the bottom brood box 11 frames with pollen and the top is getting full of honey and pollen.

Sometimes I find, particularly at this time of year, the queen just goes off lay. If you don't spot her during an inspection it's easy to assume she's not there. But the bees are pretty good at self preservation and if she had disappeared or been killed they normally make emergency queen cells. Probably all is well with your hive?

 

[Rock_Chick]

I thought I would give an update on this hive, now after 8 weeks of no queen the bees are getting less, on double bb. Again I’ve put in a frame of eggs and brood, again nothing. No laying workers. Bottom bb is wall to wall of pollen top bb full of honey, they not even filling the supers, so even if queen there, they have left no where for her to lay. I think its time to just let nature take its course with this one.

 

[enrico]

I thought I would give an update on this hive, now after 8 weeks of no queen the bees are getting less, on double bb. Again I’ve put in a frame of eggs and brood, again nothing. No laying workers. Bottom bb is wall to wall of pollen top bb full of honey, they not even filling the supers, so even if queen there, they have left no where for her to lay. I think its time to just let nature take its course with this one.

If that is the case then give them another super under the qe or remove the qe completely. They are clearly bringing in nectar. Then if the queen needs to lay she can do. All the signs are that there is a queen in there somewhere. She may be badly mated but to give nature a chance you need to give her room to do something!
E

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I thought I would give an update on this hive, now after 8 weeks of no queen the bees are getting less, on double bb. Again I’ve put in a frame of eggs and brood, again nothing. No laying workers. Bottom bb is wall to wall of pollen top bb full of honey, they not even filling the supers, so even if queen there, they have left no where for her to lay. I think its time to just let nature take its course with this one.

Our training apiary had a hive which suffered similar circumstances a few years ago. Time after time test frames produced no queen cells yet no eggs were being laid comb was being filled with nectar and numbers dwindled. Finally after a number of fruitless searches using the usual techniques one of our eagle eyed members found the dud queen and she was despatched. A final test frame was then successful but as it was late season this was merely used as a training demonstration and the colony was shaken out. Some queens are very adroit at hiding!

 

[Kali]

Lol

 

[Kali]

 

[fian]

I would do the following.
Divide the hive into three parts. Each new hive will receive one third of the pollen and honey frames. They are completed with a brood frame and the rest with an unstretched comb. Arrangement order: Honey, Base, Pollen, Honey, Brood, Pollen, Base, Pollen, Honey, Base, Honey.
The brood frames will come from another hive and without bees.
Wait a week and check each new hive. Royal cells would have been started in two of them. In the third will be the queen. Review that one more calmly and if you find it, get rid of it. Join this hive with one of the previous ones or transfer one of the royal cells.