So it was warm enough today that I decided to break out the smoker and see how things were going. Lots of bees coming and going, I cracked the hive open, still plenty of stores and the pollen patty I threw in a couple weeks ago looked like it hadn't been touched. I pulled some frames but could not find any brood or eggs so I'm thinking they are queenless.
In the way of background this hive was started from a package of russians last spring and they super-ceded the package queen. They hive was weaker than I would have liked going into the winter (I had another hive that was stronger that didn't make it through).
I found an empty queen cell, I'm hoping this was from last year when they super-ceded the queen but I'm not sure if they would have dismantled it over the summer or not.
Thoughts on what if anything can be done? Is there anywhere I can get a queen from at this point in time? I do have two additional packages of russians coming this spring but they might not be here for another 2-4 weeks.
In the way of background this hive was started from a package of russians last spring and they super-ceded the package queen. They hive was weaker than I would have liked going into the winter (I had another hive that was stronger that didn't make it through).
I found an empty queen cell, I'm hoping this was from last year when they super-ceded the queen but I'm not sure if they would have dismantled it over the summer or not.
Thoughts on what if anything can be done? Is there anywhere I can get a queen from at this point in time? I do have two additional packages of russians coming this spring but they might not be here for another 2-4 weeks.


