> I have had continual problems with this hive producing queen cups and
> queen cells. I didn't cut them out last week, and today they were capped.
> I did, however, find some new eggs in there.
> There is much less uncapped brood than there was, but there are quite
> a few eggs, in a decent pattern, but not really to my liking, and
> with no cells having multiple eggs. I want to requeen, but I can't find
> that queen. Is this the right thing to do?
It is entirely normal for hives to produce cups, and not abnormal for hives to
have a cell on the go at any time. However the threat or actual presence of
cells is threatening to many beekeepers, because they sometimes indicate an
intention to swarm, or a failing queen. Oftentimes, they don't really indicate
anything. Maybe they are just insurance.
If your hive has adequate room, a small population, and brood, I would just let
the bees do what they want. Requeening sets a colony back and has risks. It
should not be done capriciously. There are bona fide reasons to requeen, and
good times to do it, but I can't guess from here.
If the eggs are on the bottom of the cells and hatching into normal brood that
goes on to be capped, I would let the bees carry on as they like. Why the
amount of sealed brood is declining is a mystery, but I would guess that the
reason could be lack of feed, or disturbance from inspections. Young brood is
very susceptible to killing from exposure to sunlight even for a few minutes.
Of course, a quick glance would tell me more than many paragraphs. My advice:
find a local beekeeper and get her to take a look. She might just say to
requeen.
allen
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