Bees in my backyard - Where's the Queen?

**Rancho Simi** · 07-11-2012, 04:48 AM

I had an empty hive with foundation frames in my backyard and some bees moved in. It's been a couple of weeks now and when I opened it to check if there was a colony being established I only saw a few bees building comb on the side of the box, inside, and a few building comb on one of the frames. I didn't see any signs of a queen, no eggs, nothing. All I saw was some pollen and honey. Does anyone know what's going on? Why is there no queen present? I cleaned up the comb on the side of the box, removed the extra frames they were not even touching and closed it back up. Any advise would be helpful. Thanks.

**Eddie Honey** · 07-11-2012, 05:31 AM

It could have been a swarm with a virgin queen. Give her time to get mated. Check back in 10 days or so.

**squarepeg** · 07-11-2012, 05:34 AM

it is possible that the swarm left your trap, and the bees you are seeing got left behind.

**Rancho Simi** · 07-11-2012, 01:41 PM

Originally Posted by Eddie Honey

It could have been a swarm with a virgin queen. Give her time to get mated. Check back in 10 days or so.

That's probably it. The seem to be busy bringing in pollen and there is pollen and honey in the hive. I'll give it some time and see what happens.

**Rancho Simi** · 07-11-2012, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by squarepeg

it is possible that the swarm left your trap, and the bees you are seeing got left behind.

Maybe, not really sure. There never was a great amount of bees going in and out of the hive. I'll just wait and see what happens in about 2 weeks. They seem to like it there anyway.