I was given a hive from a friend that decided not to winter their bees. My plan is to combine their hive with a weak one of mine in hopes that they will have enough mass to make it through the winter. I opened the hive yesterday to pinch the queen and found two empty queen cells, no queen, and only capped brood.
I am the second worst person on the planet at finding queens, odds are that there must be someone worse than I, so there may be a queen there. The queen cells were smallish but they were certainly queen cells. The capped brood is worker.
I'm rapidly running out of summer and my other hives have already chased out their drones so am concerned that the queens may not get mated. I was going to use a paper combine but perhaps I should build a ramp and shake them out just in front. I will warm this afternoon but is was in the 40's this morning.