[infofly]

Please help me understand what is going on with queenless hive.
This hive came out of winter nice and strong but then queen has vanished. Since April 3rd I've been giving them frames with eggs from another hive, but they not making any queen cells at all. They would just proceed to take care of the brood, with total disregard to the lack of queen. Today I found few eggs in very small spots on 2 frames - single egg in the bottom of each cell. Maybe total of 10 cells with eggs.
Is this a laying worker ?
How to make them start queen cells?

Thanks.

 

[Beeslave]

My guess(I've seen it many times the last few years) is you do have a queen. She didn't just become sterile and layed drones but she doesn't have her egg maker running correctly. You need to find her and kill her. It is also possible that you have a virgin.

 

[KQ6AR]

You might of had a virgin queen in there. They can take 30 days to start laying, from the time the egg is laid.
Give her a couple weeks before giving up on her.

 

[infofly]

That’s what I was thinking, but I can’t find the queen. Went trough the hive couple of times in last two weeks, frame by frame and no queen.
Is there a way to locate a virgin queen other than by looking for her on frames?

 

[AmericasBeekeeper]

No one ever promised finding the queen would be easy. Some queens are just runners. They will hide on the far side of the frame in your hand or the wood of the super, or your arm. Single eggs at the base of the cell is not a laying worker. An unmated queen would lay drones that look like little silos when capped. Laying workers usually put multiple eggs on the side of the cell due to their shorter abdomen.