How long would the bees stick around...

[someguy]

...if there were no queen? I ask this because my friend looked at my hive and said that there was no queen because there were no eggs, and I told her that there had to be a queen because it was in the queen cage when I installed the bees (about a month ago), and it left the cage.

Anyhow, if she is right, and there hasn't been a queen, do I just order a new queen? If I order a queen and it turns out there was already a queen, what would the bees do with two queens?

[amymcg]

If there's no queen, AND no eggs, you need to order a queen or eventually your hive will die as it will have no new bees to replace the older bees that die.

You can order a queen from a multitude of suppliers, check the list on the front page of beesource.com

If you put in a queen while there is still another queen, the hive will probably ball and kill the new queen.

[carbide]

If you go to the For Sale section of this forum you will see that Sippybees has some Italian queens for sale. From the posts that have been registered there it seems that everyone that has ordered from him is happy with his queens and his price is about as good as you're ever going to get.

[Michael Bush]

Some bees will stick around until they finally die of old age even though the queen is gone. If they've been queenless for several weeks, I'd look hard for multiple eggs that would indicate a laying worker. If there is a laying worker, they will just reject the queen.

[Dwight]

Is there any brood? It's possible your friend can't see the eggs. But if there is brood it is likely you have a queen.