[cbird]

Hi All,
I am a total novice that just started with my first TBH this Spring. In many ways it seems the hive is doing great, however I am feeling a little paranoid. I waited a bit too long to check the combs-I thought they looked so nice from the window that I didn't need to disrupt them with an inspection but when I did I found a lot of cross combing in the back. While working on fixing the cross combing one of the combs fell into the hive. Being so paranoid I wondered later if the queen could have been underneath that small disaster. Well it is two weeks later and I don't think I am seeing any new brood. I see a ton of new comb but no brood. How can I be sure if I have a queen or not besides spotting her-which I haven't been able to as of yet?
Thanks for any help you can give me!
Chrissi
Hailey, ID

 

[Sovek]

Grab an LED flashlight and check "empty" cells for eggs. It was the only way I could confirm I had a new queen in my split from earlier.

 

[ruthiesbees]

It's always a possibility that the queen was underneath. However if she was laying properly before the "accident", there would have been young eggs for the worker bees to make a new queen. Do you not have any open larvae? How about capped brood? And do you know what a queen cell looks like? They stick out from the comb and look somewhat like a peanut. 2 full weeks is just about the right timing for the bees to have built an emergency queen cell and it's getting ready to hatch (16 days from egg).

 

[cbird]

Thanks for the replies!
I have capped brood but it looks like no new capped brood-I can't be 100% certain though. I don't see any queen cells-just a ton of open comb. I will look tomorrow for open larvae-I have never noticed that before. If I don't see any new larvae should I order a new queen asap?
Thanks again!

 

[ruthiesbees]

Is there a local bee club in your area? Before you spend the $50 to get a new queen flown in, you really should determine what type of brood is there and if the queen is still there. Is there an experienced beekeeper who could come over and help you look? Is this your only hive? If you are part of a local club, you might have access to an almost free queen cell, which would give you local genetics.

 

[cbird]

I so wish I could find someone local but so far I haven't. So for now it's help online....

 

[ruthiesbees]

Have you done a full inspection yet? Hopefully you have a friend who will help you take some pictures of each of the combs (cell phone cameras seem to work fine), and post on beesource and people will help you determine if there is larvae or brood. If the comb is strong enough, you can turn the bars completely over on their head and rest them on the other bars to get a picture. I have also taken a metal hanging file frame and made it into a top bar hanger. I can get much better pictures that way, but I've also gotten some good ones by holding the comb in one hand and the camera in the other.

 

[cbird]

OK, will do! I thought that it wouldn't be possible since there is some brood from before. I will get on those pics! By the way my bees have been much more angry when inspecting for the last couple of weeks as well. Since it is cloudy today I may wait until it is nice and sunny to try another inspection?