i learned this one first hand when splitting a hive. i didn't bother looking for the queen because i was leaving both hives plenty of brood frames in each to make one whichever one ended up queenless had the means to produce a new one.they were calm as could be for most of it, but when i was nearly through the original hive's whole demeanor changed instantly. i was getting headbutts like they were going out of style and even had to leave the area for a few minutes. at the time i wasn't completely sure but had a hunch what had happened. this weekends inspection confirmed it though. they had several queen cells one of which was torn open already. also i thought i heard piping for an instant or two then it stopped.
which leads me to another question. will a newly hatched virgin queen attack and kill queen cells at random or does she kill the ones most likely to hatch first ? four queen cells next to one another only one was torn open. or is it possible i interrupted her from killing the others, she may have ran when i got to that frame.
The bees will prevent the virgin from killing any queen cells that they want to preserve. My guess is that she would like to kill them all.
In about 10 minutes most know. In two hours they all know.
A virgin queen is only interested in killing virgin queens and queen cells. Not saying shey MIGHT not fight a laying queen, but usually she has no interest in it.