Queenless hive - question

[CoolBees]

Hi All. I would like some advice. My H4 hive appears to have gone queenless. It's been hot and dry now here. In a derth I'd say. I inspected this hive 2 weeks ago. No eggs, no larva, no capped brood. I checked every frame of 5 8-frame medium boxes. Found several emergency QC's that had hatched recently - empty. So I added 2 frames of eggs/larva/capped brood that day.

On Tuesday I checked for QC's. No luck. All brood capped or hatched. Plenty of nurse bees. They didnt even try to make a queen. So I went thru the hive again frame-by-frame - no other brood or eggs on any frame.

I don't want them to go Laying Worker on me. What to do? Add more frames of brood every 8-10 days until they decide to grow a queen?

Your thoughts/comments appreciated.

[Nock]

I believe that?s what I?d do. Maybe you still have a virgin Q.

[BeeMaster2]

As Nock said, you may have a queen. To bee safe, I would add a frame of open brood but do not go through the hive again. Just add the frame on top so that you can check it in a week without bothering the bees.
Jim Altmiller

[TheHoneyPump]

Probably a virgin queen resident, or recently lost on mating flights.  As already recommended, add a frame of open brood each week until they are queenrite.   The open brood prevents laying workers.  By adding one per week - that is your to do for curbing LW.

[CoolBees]

Ok - thanks guys. I will do that.

Now I have an additional question for your consideration: if I place an Altmiller Screen under the top 2 boxes & place the brood above the screens, will the lower boxes still get the brood smell enough the prevent LW's?

... 'cause if I do that, I could get a queen(s) growing above, while a possible Virgin settles things below - and end up with a queen(s) either way ....

[BeeMaster2]

Alan,
The screen is to stop queen mandible pheromone. It will not stop wet larvae pheromones. I would wait until you have a strong queen right hive with lots of larvae before messing with this hive.
Jim Altmiller

[CoolBees]

An update on this. I checked H4 today. It is Queenright now. About 9 frames of brood.

It didn't turn out to be a Virgin Queen that needed time. I added a frame of eggs every 7 days. There never was any brood during this time.

On the 3rd try, they finally made QC's. Since then I've been waiting. Everything looks good now. The brood (that they made the Queen from) came from my H10 hive. H10 has been consistently Mite Free (naturally) ... so, time will tell how this Daughter performs. Fingers crossed. 

[BeeMaster2]

Thanks for the update. Let us know she performs.
Jim Altmiller

[Ben Framed]

Good deal  Alan.  👍