I sent a message out week or so ago and described how I had collected 7
swarms in one day and that after 10 days I still did not see any eggs being
laid in any of the 7 hived swarms. I am happy to report that I went out
today and checked each hive and found eggs in all 7. Not very many eggs,
and not all together either. But at least I know I got the queen. But I
also found in 4 of the 7 hives, queen cells (2 to 3 of them) on the side of
a couple of the frames. Not on the bottom of the frames.
If everything that I have read and learned from people on this list about
the queen in a swarm, then I must believe that the queens that I have in the
7 hives are the old queens and she isn't doing a very good job and is
probably being replaced by bees. My question is this: Should I just let
them replace her on their own or should I purchase some queens? What are
the pros and cons of each....