[SD2522]

Good Evening,
I installed a package of bees two weekends ago. I installed them in a deep of drawn comb. When I went to inspect today I noticed very little brood (some capped about the size of a tennis ball), no eggs, a lot of activity around a few queen cups. I could not locate the queen or any eggs and am assuming that the hive is queenless. I did notice that at the bottom of the queen cups it looks as if there is some larvae. My question is should I order up a new queen and get one going/cut out the queen cups or should I let them raise their own queen? Any info would be great.
Thank you

 

[crofter]

You will lose a month before the queen the bees make will start to lay (providing she successfully returns mated). The population will be dropping every day for the next 5 or 6 weeks; A replacement queen could be laying in a few days but if the bees have started cells, they might not easily accept a new queen. That angle might need some thought and action on your part to ensure acceptance. Maybe a push in cage.

 

[Vance G]

Your best bet is a new caged queen but you must get every queen cell destroyed before you introduce her for there to be any success. Rough business. Good luck with it. It is why I always have 25-50 hives for that reason. I can lose a dozen and still be smugly succeeding.

 

[Fivej]

Do you have another hive? I wonder because you have drawn comb. If so, get a mated queen and put her on a frame of brood from another hive in a push in cage. Of course, do this after you have destroyed QC like Crofter and Vance said. No experience, but I have read that its a better shot at acceptance. J