Seem to have lost a second queen in a new hive, what now?

[Seanmhair]

Friend has 2 new hives in a cotton field close to his home.  Hived them on April 8, one hive did fine, but in the second hive he found the queen dead in her cage (candy gone) 1 week later.  Ordered a replacement queen which he put in on April 21.  Checked them yesterday and could not find the queen or any sign of eggs or larva.  There is drawn comb with pollen and sugar syrup. 

He has asked me to check his hive to see if I see eggs before he orders a third queen which I will do early this next week.  My question is since the package of bees is now 3 weeks old and will be close to 4 weeks old by the time he gets another queen, should he re-queen again or try combining the 2 hives with the newspaper trick?  I am worried about an aging population of package bees.

On the other hand, my 2 hives started on April 7 both look great.

[Michael Bush]

I have often seen a commercial queen take two weeks to start laying.  You've had this one for 8 days.

[Seanmhair]

thanks, checking for her again prob Wed morning

[VolunteerK9]

You could have had a virgin queen already in the package which would explain the other two queen deaths and if so she would be difficult to find until she plumps up to lay. If possible, place a frame of eggs in there to see if they start building cells.

[funbee1]

I had a similar situation. After 5 days the queen was still in her cage, I let her out and they killed her instantly. I was going to order a new queen but I went back a few days later and found that there was a queen mixed in with the package bees(plus the one in the cage). It took two weeks then she started laying and everyting is fine.

[Seanmhair]

Follow-up.

Finally got a chance to check the hive yesterday (2 weeks after the 2nd queen was introduced)

We could not find the queen but did see eggs, larva and brood, so not sure which queen we have, but there is evidence of a good hive.  Thanks for your advice and support!