Many beekeepers seem to have great problems in deciding whether a colony is
really queenless, is broodless because a new queen has not yet started
laying, or has a queen that has stopped laying - perhaps because of
unfavourable conditions.

Whilst this is not always easy to diagnose - and even experienced beekeepers
can misread the colony - there are many clues that can help.

Firstly, I think that it helps to know at what has happened in the preceding
few weeks.  For example, if the colony has swarmed then it is reasonable to
expect that there will be a new queen in there somewhere; the important
thing is to know how long ago she hatched, because queens that do not start
laying within about 3 weeks  are rarely, in my experience, likely to have
mated properly.

So what are these signs that we can read?

A colony with a good queen that has not yet started laying will polish cells
ready for her to lay eggs.  They may be 'edgy' (colonies without brood in
all stages sometimes are), but they are unlikely to be very bad tempered.

Colonies that are really hopelessly queenless (i.e. no eggs or young brood
from which to rear a queen) may be bad-tempered, will have empty brood cells
that are dull and unpolished, will cover their pollen stores with honey (it
will have a wet look and after being queenless for some time they may
thicken the edges of the cells in which the pollen is stored), may make a
low moaning sound - yes, the colony really sounds unhappy - and finally,
perhaps the most reliable sign, when combs are removed for examination, bees
will stand on the comb and fan their wings rather in a listless way (not
like they do when scenting).  The next stage is the appearance of eggs from
laying workers.

In my experience, it is rarely worth trying to re-queen hopelessly queen
less colonies; better to shake them out and let them beg their way into
neighbouring hives.  You can then use the hive to set up a new colony with
brood in all stages and young bees - this is much more likely to accept your
new queen.

So my advice would be to learn to read the signs, rather than rush off to
buy a new queen.

Peter Edwards
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