Is my queeen in my new hive?

[mpetershat]

3 weeks ago today we installed our first package of bees.   After 4 days we opened the hive and removed the empty qeen cage and immediately saw the marked queen.  After checking each frame and observing for a while we tried  to find the queen again with no luck

A week later,  this past Saturday,  we opened the the hive to see if the queen was laying.  Once again after careful observation we could not find the green dot of the queen.  There was capped comb and  I think I saw eggs. 

However we saw at least 2  large cells in the middle of 2 frames.  After looking online at  the Beemaster queen page site, they look exactly like  a supercedure cell.

Does this mean the queen is gone and they are making a new queen and if so do I have time for the hive to survive.  Some bee is laying eggs. Could the green dot have come off and I just didnt  see the queen.
Do I need to order a new one right away?

My first reaction is lets see what happens.  The hive owner, my wife, is less calm. :)

[pdmattox]

The bees may have removed the green mark off of the queen but queens are good at hiding and you could have missed her. If you are seeing eggs That means she was still there about 3 days ago. It is normal for the bees to draw cups and tear them down. I would look inside of the cups and see if the whitish color of royal jelly is in the bottom. If that has not happened then they are just building the cups. When they decide to supercede I would not cut the cells out or you could end up hopelessly queenless. When doing a inspection I always start out on one side of the box and work my way in. After the outside frame is removed i just keep sliding the frames to the end so as not to roll the queen or smash bees.

[Robo]

It is not uncommon for a mother queen to get shook into a package when it is being made.   When this happens, the caged queen is killed when released. 

So either your marked queen is a good hider, your a bad looker,  or your package contained a mother queen and your marked queen is a goner.   

Yes the bees could have removed the marking,  but I would put this at a lower percentage than getting a mother queen.   I would assume if you purchased the package from a reputable sell, they would have used a quality paint and not something along the lines of white out.

rob...

[JP]

No need to order a queen right away. Like you said, someone is laying. Odds are you simply missed seeing your marked queen.

Go back in, in a few days or so and check again for eggs, larvae.

Remember, you don't always need to see the queen. If you have eggs or young larvae, she's most likely in there.

Welcome to beekeeping!


...JP

[Robo]

Remember, you don't always need to see the queen. If you have eggs or young larvae, she's most likely in there.

Of course if you paid a premium for the queen such as a Russian, NWC, etc.   Then I would want to see the MARKED queen,   otherwise you most likely ended up with a generic older Italian mother queen.