Disappearing Queens?

[baddawg1976]

Do Good queens just leave the hive or what?

My queen emerged and began laying 18 days later and filled the whole hive with brood, I when I say filled I MEAN FILLED it. There was rarely 1 or 2 open cells uncapped. I was happy.

Now 3 weeks later the hive is very strong, I checked for eggs, larva and brood, NONE except for a few capped cells left. The hive did not swarm, I watch them carefully, This is the 3rd time this happened this season.

Also the bees were very mean about 50 stings on my gloves and as I walked away they followed me for about 100 feet. Sorry for the length, I just can't figure it out. Thanks

[cider]

Did you accidentally lose/roll the queen? A queenless colony can be aggressive.Keep eye out for laying worker laying 2-4 eggs in each cell.

[baddawg1976]

I don't think so, the last time I opened the hive I found the queen and she was very large I thought and when I put her back in I was very careful not to touch her. She was not clipped and someone told me that sometimes a queen will just move out, I don't believe this.

[Michael Bush]

I've had similar experiences, but usually after a swarm. My best guess was that my old queen left and for some reason they failed to raise a new one. There were empty queen cells but no queen. They were not just angry. They hunted me and my friend. We were on the opposite side of the house, 200 yards away and they would hunt us down and sting us for hours aftewards.

[odfrank]

Your queen did you a big favor. That temper of bee is not one you want to have. Now you can start over with a gentle strain.