i have a real problem with allowing my bees to raise queens. the swallows are thick around here and queens rarely make it back to the hive after mating. even so, i had two swarms that had no queens. one lost the queen a week after i brought it home. no idea why, but found her dead on the bottom board. another might have had a virgin queen that didn't make it back.
added the first frame of eggs on 22 June and the second on the 27th to the hive that had lost it's queen. after finding multiple and beautiful queen cells, i used a window screen to combine this hive with the second. after 3 days i pulled the screen and the hives combined nicely. the cells hatched/emptied on schedule, but on the last check this weekend i saw no sign of a queen. the hive did act like it had one.
checked today before making the call to combine them with yet another hive...something i didn't want to do as all hives are booming. there she was! fat and laying. just popped out at me.
reason for the story? don't rush things :-). it took a month from first eggs to finding queen. if i'd combined them this weekend i would have no doubt lost a queen and a hive.
Good lesson. How many times have I thought they were queen less only to see her in there.