I have not seen my queen for some weeks now. A few days ago there seemed to be an increase in the number of bees in the hive. I went in and saw that they drew out a few frames. About 8 of the 10 frames were drawn so I added the second brood super. Now my hive is 2 stories. Thats good. When I started pulling frames during inspection there were many bees in clumps. She could've been in one of the clumps so I could have missed her. It was a bit shady and I couldn't really see well but I thought I saw some uncapped brood. I am thinking that the uncapped brood could've been from a laying worker. The bees are very gentle and do not seem upset at all so I am wondering if the queen is there. Is there a surefire way to tell if I cannot spot her? She is marked so I should be able to but I cannot. I am a noob. Can someone please help here?
:?
Uncapped brood is a good sign. Eggs are even better - although it takes good light and eyesight to see them.
The queen can be elusive, but if you can see eggs (single eggs in the bottom of cells) she is fine.
Signs of a laying worker is multiple (up to 5 or 6) eggs in cell and stuck to the sides of the cell. If the eggs look normal and are on the bottom of the cells, they are not from laying workers. Laying workers seem to lay in random patterns all over the place as well, not nice patches of adjacent cells. If you have normally placed eggs, chances are you have a queen, just keep looking for her. If you find her without a mark, then there is a good chance the original queen was superseded. Also keep an eye on the brood you do have, if it all becomes called drone brood, then laying worker could still be possibly as the non-laying workers will remove the extra eggs from the cells.
QuoteLaying workers seem to lay in random patterns all over the place as well, not nice patches of adjacent cells.
mine had 1/2 dozen drone cells on probably 10 different frames in a 2 deep hive.
you can spend a huge amount of time disrupting the hive while you look for a queen. they are good at hiding and a lot of times you won't find them unless you have a lot of experience spotting them.
better to limit your inspection and find the signs of a queen. eggs, good brood pattern, larvae at various stages, etc.
it is important to learn to spot a queen, but you have to balance the learning time against what is best for the hive. taking pictures of each frame as you go gives you a chance to really examine the pictures later without spending hours with you have apart.