queenright but no brood

[DianeF]

2 weeks ago one colony had a queen & fair amount of bees but no capped brood. I didn't see any new queen cells to indicate supercedure. I swapped 3 frames of capped brood from other colony. Today - 2 weeks later, same story. Still queenright & no new brood. So I swapped 2 frames w/dense capped brood right next to frame w/ good queen hoping for eggs.

Do you think there's a good chance the bees will supercede this queen or should I order a new one? Is it possible that this queen is a new one? They had plenty of food & I've never marked prior queens.

[AmericasBeekeeper]

Welcome Diane. They will never make a queen with no eggs or one day old larva present. You need to give them a frame of eggs.

[pine_ridge_farms]

I agree, give them a frame of eggs and see what they do with it. If they don't start drawing queens cells and you still see a queen running around in the hive with no new brood, smash her and install another one. If they start drawing queen cells let them proceed with rearing a queen. You could have a virgin queen present and if you do they won't start cells and she should start laying soon.

[DianeF]

Another possibility, today I went back to check the broodless queen again. She seemed hungry - had her head stuck in a honey cell, which I didn't notice before. I'd removed the syrup feeder 3 weeks ago & it may have been too soon for my area. So I reversed the frames I swapped yesterday since the deeps felt light & maybe there's not enough honey to feed that many bees. I also gave them winter food patties (not pollen patties) and some sugar syrup.

So I'm still debating if I should give this queen more time or kill her & get a replacement.

DF

[Michael Bush]

It takes a newly emerged queen two to three weeks to start to lay.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm

But a frame of eggs is cheap insurance.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beespanacea.htm

[DianeF]

This isn't a new queen. She's at least 2 years old.

[Michael Bush]

Since there are no eggs I'm assuming she is the supersedure. I would add a frame of eggs and see what happens.