Kevin and Shawna Roberts, amoung others, returned my post,
     writing:
 
     "What you describe is similar to what I often see in a hive a
     few weeks after it swarms.  The last offspring from the old
     queen have emerged, but the new queen (assuming one is there)
     has not yet begun to lay.  If the bees are behaving normally,
     then they likely have a virgin or a newly-mated queen.
 
     This period should only last a week or so.  If you don't have
     eggs by then, you probably don't have a queen."
 
 
     Well, the answer to my previous concern about the lack of ANY
     eggs or brood was nailed by this group.  When I reinspected the
     hive this past weekend, the lower brood chamber was still empty
     of brood and no sign of any queen.  I had made up my mind to
     use a spare nuc to requeen but decided to inspect the upper
     brood chamber first.
        The first frame I pulled was the second frame from the edge
     and it was FULL, cell to cell, top to bottom, side to side with
     eggs - one to a cell.  (OK, so I exaggerate, but I was so
     excited to see eggs, it seemed that way.  There WAS a lot of
     eggs and they were solid on both sides of the frame.)  Most
     were still sticking straight up so a queen had to be close.
        So I started looking for her.  She had been marked and
     clipped when I purchased her this spring so I scanned for the
     dot. Nothing.  Then I saw a queen, not MY queen for this one
     had two full wings and no marking, but she was big and fat and
     calmly moving across the frames.  It is clear that the hive
     must have either swarmed or superceded the old (?  I purchased
     her this spring!) queen and the empty frames I saw last weekend
     was a break in the brood cycle while the colony was adjusting
     to the change.  There were a lot (12+) open and empty queen
     cups along the bottom of the frames that last week I had
     attributed to emergency cells.  The only thing that still
     puzzles me somewhat is that I don't notice an appreciable
     decrease in the number of bees in the hive, but perhaps I
     wasn't as observant as I should have been before the swarm.
 
     Thanks to all for your help.  It is nice to know you all are
     out there.
 
     Mark Egloff
     [log in to unmask]
 
     P.S.  Ether roll tests of the hives indicate no varroa...yet.
     But I KNOW they are out there.  I can feel them lurking in the
     shadows watching with their beady little eyes. (Do varroa have
     eyes?)  I wonder if hanging a garland of garlic or a cross on
     each of the hives will keep them out?  It worked with
     Dracula.;)
 
     M.