I'm starting my second season as a beekeeper. Today, as I was inspecting the hive, I noticed the queen lying on the ground. She crawled onto my hive tool and I put her back on the top bar of a frame. She seemed to be OK, but is there anything I should start looking for if she was damaged in any way? Thanks!
Was it before you removed any frames that you saw her?
Always hold the frame over the hive when checking. some time they will fall of the frame.
If she was already out on the ground there may be some reason.
some time when they super cede they will run the old queen out.
Then if she gets back in the hive they may ball/kill her.
If her wings were clipped and they swarmed she would be just out side the hive.
The swarm would return unless they had another queen with them, bred or Virgin.doak
If there is a problem with the queen you will see some supercedure queen cells being built. If that happens do a split with a couple of frames, one having one or more queen cells, so that you grow an insurance queen. If both queens survive then you have 2 hives.