Hi all! I'm an amateur (and new) beekeeper and I really enjoy the conversations on this list. They're very helpful to me. Recently the queen of one of my hives left the hive along with a big number of bees and 'sat' on a nearby tree. When I saw it, I *supposed* that a new queen was born and one of them left the hive with some of the bees. So, I managed to put the queen and the bees surrounding her in a new hive and left it under the tree. This happened before two weeks. Yesterday, I visited again my hives (I was on holidays the time in between) and even though the new hive is doing well, I realised that the old hive *does not* have a queen bee!!! Searched for her twice but I couldn't find her! I suppose this is because, 1)she is dead (for unknown reasons to me) 2) there wasn't a new queen in the first place! Maybe the queen in the hive, decided to leave it without queen!!! Does any know if any of these are possible (and why) ? Are there any other possible explanations?! Since the old hive doesn't have a queen bee is destined to die. What can I do to save it? *Is* there anything I can do? I thought that maybe if I find a queen cell in another hive I can put it in this. But a friend of mine said that the bees are going to kill her as soon as she gets out of the cell because she is not 'theirs'! Is this sensible to assume? Another solution I thought, is to 'reunite' the two hives back in to one. Is this the best I can do?! Are there any other solutions?! TIA P. -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---