I recently had a queenless hive with no eggs or brood. I transfered 2
frames of eggs and brood from another hive and they raised a queen just
fine. I checked after a couple of weeks so I know she was there. After a
couple more weeks, no queen, eggs or brood could be found. I then checked
the hive right next to it and found a new queen in there (the old one was
marked) but no evidence of supercedure or swarm cells. Is it possible that
the
queen that the queenless hive raised returned from her mating flight to the
wrong hive and killed the old marked queen?
 
I have introduced 3 more frames of eggs and brood to the still queenless
hive. There was no evidence of a laying worker after about 6 - 8 weeks of
being queenless. This leaves me to wonder: 1) how long does it take for a
hive to develop laying workers and 2) will a hopelessly queenless hive
always develop laying workers.
 
Small urban lot in Califormia's central valley.