Queen Question or Problem

[Beeboy01]

I just finished checking one hive and couldn't see any sign of a queen or brood. The hive was a swarm I caught last year and wintered well. Last inspection about a month ago there was a lot of capped brood in a good pattern and some younger brood also. This inspection showed that the brood area is getting filled with honey and about three half full frames of pollen with no capped or uncapped brood anywhere. I didn't spot any drone brood so I don't think I have any laying workers and the hive didn't roar like a queenless hive does after a week or so. I pulled a frame of pollen and honey out of the middle of the brood box and replaced it with a frame of foundation to see if the beers pull it out and maybe get the queen laying. Do you think I have a honey bound queen or did I loose her. I couldn't see any queen cells or swarm cells either which makes me wonder if the queen just stopped laying for some reason. Any idea about what's going on? The hive setup is one deep for brood and three shallows getting filled with honey, no queen excluder in use.
Thanks
Ed

[Kathyp]

one way to check is to pop a frame of eggs and young larvae in there.  if they are queenless and do not have laying workers, they'll start queen cells right away.   + the open brood will help suppress the laying worker urge if they are headed that way. that gives you a few days to figure things out.

[AllenF]

When you were looking at the frames, you would have noticed if they were honey bound.   Are you sure there were no swarm cells?   I bet you lost your queen in a swarm or just lost her.   Still no eggs in a week or so, I would throw a frame with eggs in there and that will tell you if they are queenless or not. 

[AndrewT]

I don't know how many times years ago I'd have gotten into a hive in the spring and done a thorough examination.  Then, a week later when I was back in, I would see no fresh eggs and no young brood, and maybe or maybe not, a queen cell.  I came to realize that I had most likely killed the queen during my last visit.  It usually happened when there were lots of bees and I didn't see the queen the first time around.

I'm more careful now and I don't dig into my hives as much, so that doesn't happen very much anymore.

[Beeboy01]

Leave well enough alone is my credo also when it comes to inspecting the brood nest, I was in it looking for a frame of brood to go into a friends nuc. I just picked up two queens which were to go into my own nucs but now it looks like one nuc will end up being combined with that hive. Can't get to upset, the milk is already spilled.

[Kathyp]

one mistake that newer beekeepers make is to pull frames from the center when they inspect.  better to start at the outside and remove one or two.  then you can slide frames apart and remove without rolling bees.  very rarely will you find the queen all the way to the outside of the box so your chances of injuring her are reduced.