Hello All,
Sometime ago I wrote about having a queenless hive.  A short time after that
it appeared I had laying workers, at least to my unknowing mind.  I decided
to try and re-queen, knowing my chances for sucess were slim.  So I dumped
the hive which took quite some time and several partially capped frames of
drone brood were exposed to cool air for the duration.  As it turned out I
had a drone laying queen who was killed by the marked queen I introduced.  I
found the dead queen outside the hive so I know this for sure and I have
seen the marked queen on two inspections since.  Much of the drone brood
survived to hatch and be killed, but some did not and the bees haven't
cleaned out the dead.  The new queen seems to not be willing to lay eggs in
the frames where there are dead brood.  Is this usual?  Should I replace
these frames?  What might be the best way to remove the dead bees from the
frames?

Also, this hive is now quite small.  I have reduced them to one deep brood
chamber, one honey super of foundation, as I found a couple of wax moth
larva.  They do seem to be covering about six frames, but are not interested
in building out the foundation. We are in a strong honey flow, my other hive
built out 8frames of a medium and partially filled it in one week. However,
there are earwigs in the lid of the hive and ants on parade.  Any
suggestions?  The poor gals are quite demoralized.

Sarah
Richmond CA