Feeding herself. I had always heard that they wouldn?t. Mainly after being mated. Anyway watched her go head first down in a open cell. Stayed down for a few seconds then off on her way. Side note about this hive. They also had couple supercedure cells as well. Maybe they stopped feeding her?
Nock,
What you were watching was a queen checking out a cell to see if it was prepped for her to lay an egg in. If it was ready, she would measure the diameter of the cell to determine if she needed to fertilize the egg, female, or lay it unfertilized, a drone.
Jim Altmiller
It was almost full of nectar.