I checked a new package I placed in a hive two weeks ago. It seems to be very strong, honey already present and capped, lots of pollen. I could not find the queen. But did see one queen cell formed? Any ideas? Eggs where present in many of the cells. Thought it was odd, never seen that on a new package installed before.These are Itallion bees.
I have a cage queen, should I place her in the hive and let the bees decise what to do ?
Let them continue there plan with the cell?
Combine this hive with another hive?
If you have eggs, you have a queen. It is not uncommon to not be able to find her. It is also not uncommon for a new package to supercede the queen. I would not add another queen without removing the old one.
Steve
Thanks Steve, I was just a little concerned. As mentioned I normal just split hives, trap feral bees or buy nuc's. What causes package bees to be more apt to build queen cell's.
The package supplier raises queens and banks them. When they sell a package, they shake some bees from some hives and throw in a banked queen. She is not their queen and sometimes they accept her and sometimes they don't.
Steve