Do I need a new queen?

[Beacon Woods]

Well I finally went out to the hives yesterday (after a week of being fearful...that was another thread). Anyway, all went well with the "phobia thing" but I think I did a silly thing. I have two hives with packages installed the same day (around the 22nd of April). One hive is a BeeMax hive and is doing great. Put a super on it yesterday (wow!). The other one is a wooden hive and frankly things don't look so great. They didn't finish drawing out the bottom 3 frames and have only drawn 2-3 of the top deep's frames. The pattern is strange as well. A little spotty on one frame and the center frame had a great big hole in the middle of it. Surrounded by capped brood. Strange looking. Maybe they just hatched??? (Probably wishful thinking).

We cleaned up some miscellaneous burr comb and also got rid of a queen cell placed on the top of one of the frames. That was a mistake wasn't it? Did I just kill my replacement queen? We looked for the original marked queen but didn't find her (although I didn't go into the bottom deep...I know, another tactical error!).

So should I let them try and raise another? Is it too late? Or should I just purchase another? The hive was calm and nonaggressive so I thought that they must still have a queen in there somewhere. Help!

Chris

[Ross]

I think you supered too soon and they are struggling to maintain the space. I would remove the top box for awhile and let them build up some bee density. They need to be able to maintain the heat and humidity in the space to raise brood.

[Beacon Woods]

So do I just take out the frames that are drawn and put them in the bottom deep? Any particular order? How soon do I check on them after that? I s'pose I should put the feeder back on too? Thanks!

Chris

[AstroBee]

I agree with Ross. Take the wooden hive back to one hive body. Killing the queen cell was a rookie mistake. Never routinely kill queen cells until you have a REALLY good guess as to their intent. This is particularly true for a package, and doubly true for one that is not performing very well. Hopefully you still have a queen, but I'd confirm that within the next week. Regarding the feeder, I don't think its necessary. You felt confident enough to super your other hive, so that suggests that you have a good flow going, right? If true, then let the hive collect real nectar.