I have a swarm that was caught on May 13th and was the second swarm from one of my hives. I checked them today for brood and found only drone brood both larva and capped. I searched for the queen but could not find her.
I did find two suppercedure cells and one of them had larva in it. Does this mean they are queenless and laying worker are doing the egg laying. Any and all help appreciated.
it could very well mean that. do you have another hive? can you take a frame of eggs from it and put it in the swarm hive? check it in a few days and see what they are doing with it.
in your case, i think i'd also go back through the hive very carefully and see if you can verify that there is no queen. if they have laying workers, they may not start queen cells so you won't really have a quick answer from the eggs you put in.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslayingworkers.htm)
How is the hive acting? Are they getting low in numbers? If they are pretty mellow they may have started a new queen just before this one failed, or she may not be a failed queen and is just loading up on drone (slim chance).
You said this was the second swarm from the same hive? You may have a quieen that was not properly bred and they're taking another shot at a new queen.
If it were me I'ld do as kathyp suggests, if for no other reason, to keep the population up. At the same time reaping the rewards of stifling possible laying worker as well as giving them material to work with. Good luck.
But I'm still new and read a lot as well as pick brains.
Also I would try and get a frame with at least one queen cell, either capped or with larva, if I was worried about queenlessness. If you don't have one, try and get one from someone you trust in your area.
Thanks all for the input !!
I had to catch this swarm twice, they left the first time and I was able to recapture them. I placed a queen excluder beneath the hive body and left it there for a week. It is highly possible I have a queen that is not properly mated. I have gone through the hive twice and double checked each frame and do not see a queen. I will go through them once more to make sure.