One of my overwintered hives may be queenless. Here's the chronology:
- 3/1 Hive cover blew off in storm and lots of rain soaked hive thru inner cover
- 3/8 Saw queen
- 3/15 Saw capped brood
- Today (4/11) saw no brood or larvae, no sign of queen.
I don't believe the hive has swarmed, and would find it hard to believe it did as it had tons of room and I'd seen no signs of swarming after the rain issue.
The hive doesn't have the queenless roar I've heard before, and they're fairly calm. So I'm either queenless or they've replaced the queen and she's not yet laying. If it's the latter, I could still have a couple of weeks to go before the new queen starts laying.
I can get a new queen fairly easily but wouldn't want to go thru the effort if they're already under way making their own new one. I know I can put a frame of eggs into the hive and see if they make QC's, is that the thing to do now?
- 3/1 Hive cover blew off in storm and lots of rain soaked hive thru inner cover
- 3/8 Saw queen
- 3/15 Saw capped brood
- Today (4/11) saw no brood or larvae, no sign of queen.
I don't believe the hive has swarmed, and would find it hard to believe it did as it had tons of room and I'd seen no signs of swarming after the rain issue.
The hive doesn't have the queenless roar I've heard before, and they're fairly calm. So I'm either queenless or they've replaced the queen and she's not yet laying. If it's the latter, I could still have a couple of weeks to go before the new queen starts laying.
I can get a new queen fairly easily but wouldn't want to go thru the effort if they're already under way making their own new one. I know I can put a frame of eggs into the hive and see if they make QC's, is that the thing to do now?