On Mon, 1 May 2000, Rod Billett wrote:

> Hive #1 was devoid of any sign of a queen.  No Eggs, No Larvae, No
> Capped Brood.  (At least 21 days since the last egg was laid)

> My Hive 1 concerns are that there is no Viable Queen within the hive
> - or have I not waited long enough to see her evidence.  Lost on her
> flights, Ate by a bird, etc.

Last spring, I was also too busy with events in my own life to look
after my hive properly, and it swarmed.  I tried to catch the swarm,
but was unsuccessful.

A full 4 weeks later, I saw no evidence of a laying queen.  No eggs,
no brood, and grumpy bees.  A week later, a bear knocked over the hive
and scooped out some of the combs.  I wrote the hive off as a complete
loss, and decided I'd just wait for the bees to die off.

The next week, when I was able to check in on the hive, to my
surprise, the colony didn't look like it was dying off.  I uprighted
the hive and put it back together as best I could.  I looked at a few
frames, and there were excellent patterns of eggs and brood.  The bees
were good-tempered and didn't bother me.

Where was the new queen during those 6 weeks?  If she were in the
hive, and mated, why wasn't she laying?  I have no idea.  All I know
is that the queen decided to make her presence known long after she
"should" have.

So, I wouldn't necessarily assume your hive doesn't have a queen.  If
you have another hive, I'd take a frame of brood from that hive and
put it in the one that swarmed; if indeed it isn't queenright, that
should allow the bees to try again...

James Ralston
Pennsylvania, USA