[Mark in Kansas]

Inspected the hive after a break of about 4 weeks. Hive had been doing quite well, filling out two deeps (drawing comb and filling it - and I probably should have put a medium super on that a cuple weeks ago).

Some capped brood, not much evidence of larvae....most of the 20 deep frames loaded with honey or honey-in-process. Can't seem to locate the queen. All evidence suggests no activity by the queen for a couple weeks.

A couple small queen cells. Capped.

Did the hive swarm, is the queen dead, or is she just taking a break from laying since it's overloaded with honey (no room for brood) ? This was a clipped BeeWeaver queen....I'm disappointed to have apparently lost her.

Thoughts ? Guess I better re-queen, hey ?

 

[Beeslave]

Only you or someone else that looks inside the hive can tell you for sure what may of happened. Is there any empty cells the queen could lay in? Where are the queen cells located on the frame? Were the queen cells formed around a worker cell that was extended out and down?(That would be an emergency cell-Queen was killed) Were the queen cells located in the brood area of the frame and created from a cell cup that was already in the downward position?(Most likely that would be a supercedure cell) Where the cells formed from a cell cup on the bottom of the frame or at the outer edges of the brood area?(That would most likely be swarm cells)

Have any of the queen cells hatched yet? If so you will have a hard time getting a new purchased queen accepted without finding the hatched queen and killing her. You will also need to destroy all queen cells before giving them another queen.

 

[sqkcrk]

Never heard of a live queen takin' a break. Even durin' the winta she'll lay an egg ever now and then.

 

[Mark in Kansas]

Were the queen cells formed around a worker cell that was extended out and down?(That would be an emergency cell-Queen was killed)

Yes...In the middle of the frame..seemed kinda small...