Drone Laying Queen vs. Laying Workers + A New Swarm = Baffled Beek (Pics Added)

[SueCT]

I have a really convoluted situation with one of my hives.  I believe I have either a drone laying queen or laying workers - but am not currently seeing any eggs at all in the hive.  Let me start at the beginning...

3 weeks ago, one of my hives showed every sign of being queenless - no eggs, little uncapped larvae and only a small amount of capped brood - including a fair number of drones. We found mixed signals regarding their intentions - one active queen cup between the top bars of two frames, one empty queen cup mid-frame and 6 queen cells on the bottom of the frames, 3 of which had uncapped larvae and royal jelly.

We waited a week, did an inspection and accidentally pulled the frame with the 6 swarm cells.  We damaged some of the wax around the end of a couple of those cells that would have been capped off, but the base of the cups were intact and unharmed.  We also found another swarm cell on another frame that hadn't been there the week before. Even if those first swarm cells were damaged, we estimated that we should have a queen hatching out on Sunday or Monday of this week at the latest and should start to see eggs in the next week or so if she mates and is accepted.

Now, here's where it gets really complicated.  Yesterday, we had a couple of revelations...

(1) Got a call from our neighbor, who had a small swarm sized a little smaller than the size of a soccer ball. We went and collected them - thankfully they were in a low bush, so that was an easy project.

(2) The same neighbor told us he saw a swarm about 2 weeks ago (about a week after we first realized that our hive was queenless). Huh. So, was this the same swarm with diminished numbers? Could we have had two swarms?

(3) We went into the queenless (?) hive today to do an inspection (we avoided moving the frames with the swarm cells this time because it's about time for one of those queens to hatch. Still no eggs or uncapped larvae, but we did see two frames with almost all drone cells.

Laying worker??  Drone Laying Queen?  No eggs, so no way to use that to differentiate between the two.  Either way, if we shake out the hive on the far side of the yard and reassemble the hive, neither laying workers nor drone laying queen are likely to make it back to the hive, correct?  Neither the swarm nor this hive are strong enough to go into winter at this point and forage in Connecticut is dwindling, so I feel like I need to figure out how to combine them.  If this swarm was, in fact, a swarm from this hive, what are the odds that the queen with the swarm is the drone laying queen?  What do we do about the swarm cells that should be hatching out?  If one of those queens has hatched out and we shake them out across the yard, would they swarm with her (she wouldn't be mated yet). If she goes back to the hive with the workers and we combine the swarm with this hive, will the two queens duke it out or will we cause them to swarm again?  So many different variables - I just don't know which of these concerns to focus in in trying to make a decision.

A few photos from inspection yesterday.  Again, no eggs or larvae - only these capped drone cells. We did not see the supercedure queen cells on the face of the frames during previous inspections - there was only one empty queen cup on the face of one frame that we saw in the hive 3 weeks ago.  All of the larvae in the swarm cells appeared to be approx. the same age.  All 3 of the occupied swarm cells had larvae and were swimming in white fluid, which I assume was royal jelly.  None were capped.

Photos from inspection 3 weeks ago:

_DSC0382 by susan_lydem1, on Flickr

_DSC0380 by susan_lydem1, on Flickr

_DSC0373 by susan_lydem1, on Flickr

_DSC0372 by susan_lydem1, on Flickr

Photos from inspection yesterday:

image-5 by susan_lydem1, on Flickr

image-4 by susan_lydem1, on Flickr

image-3 by susan_lydem1, on Flickr

[GSF]

On the next to the last picture it looks like a queen cell with a hinge - means she hatched. She may just be misfiring right now.

I had almost the same thing with one of my hives a couple of months ago. Someone in our club sent out a blanket offering a hatched V queen. I just happen to have discovered my hive was queen less so I took them up on it. I gave her the right amount of time and I went back in. I was like you, I found a couple of frames with nothing but drone cells. So I flopped around and tried to buy a queen but that was late spring and there was a run on queens. The next time I went back in I was going to X her out and add a frame of eggs. That's when I found a frame of nothing but worker brood. Since then she's been laying fine.

Are you good at finding eggs? I use the Jeweler's visor ($17). You have to get the sun to your back and roll the frame somewhat so the sun light can get into the cells. Look for multiple eggs in the cells. My first swarm I got from my yard I must have missed the queen or something. I ended up with laying workers. The visors help me know that beyond a shadow of a doubt.

[sc-bee]

- Yes you could have  more than one swarm from the same hive.
- You said you should have a queen hatch Sunday or Monday of this week and will be looking for a laying queen in a week. As in Sunday today? Possible in a week but not necessarily so. Could be two weeks after emergence as long as three.
- Last picture-- queen cell with a hole in side. Done by another virgin queen
- laying worker..... why you have had viable queen cells
- Drone laying queen.... Probably not... your new queen has probably not started laying yet (others may disagree on this one based on your drone shown in frames) I am curious to hear. Laying worker pattern usually not that tight....

If i read the post right.....Do the bee math again on you hatch to queen laying time.....you are off a little.