Question

[jesuslives31548]

I checked a new package I placed in a hive two weeks ago. It seems to be very strong, honey already present and capped, lots of pollen. I could not find the queen. But did see one queen cell formed? Any ideas? Eggs where present in many of the cells. Thought it was odd, never seen that on a new package installed before.These are Itallion bees.

I have a cage queen, should I place her in the hive and let the bees decise what to do ?

Let them continue there plan with the cell?

Combine this hive with another hive?

[asprince]

If you have eggs, you have a queen. It is not uncommon to not be able to find her. It is also not uncommon for a new package to supercede the queen. I would not add another queen without removing the old one.

Steve

[jesuslives31548]

Thanks Steve, I was just a little concerned. As mentioned I normal just split hives, trap feral bees or buy nuc's. What causes package bees to be more apt to build queen cell's.

[asprince]

The package supplier raises queens and banks them. When they sell a package, they shake some bees from some hives and throw in a banked queen. She is not their queen and sometimes they accept her and sometimes they don't.

Steve