No queen, no brood - what happened??

[diggity]

My top bar hive that I thought was doing so well is suddenly without any brood!  First year package installed in early June - she had been laying quite well - there are a lot of bees in there and about a dozen bars of beautiful comb... but no brood.  I assume no brood = no queen, right?  Are there any circumstances in which a healthy queen can take a vacation and stop laying for a little while?  Reason I ask is because I would think that if she suddenly died, they would have raised another, right?  I did not see any queen cells to indicate this was the case (though now that I'm thinking about it, I'm thinking maybe I should check again).  We just came through a heat wave here in the Northeast.  Could that have had something to do with it?  I'm a bit confused!   :?

Thanks!

[AllenF]

They may have not to been able to replace her.  She may have quit laying for a while before dying, or she may still be in there and just not laying.  I had one in the spring that just would not lay for nothing. 

[asprince]

If they superceded their queen, all the old brood from the old queen will have hatched before the new queen starts to lay. Give it another week and look for eggs.

Steve

[diggity]

OK thanks, I think I'll do that Steve - we're going away on vacation for a week tomorrow anyway, so you've just given me a good reason not to worry about them while I'm gone. 8-)

Thanks!
-Diggity

[diggity]

A little vacation does a world of good - came back home and found capped brood, larva, and eggs again.  All is well.  I did find one (just one) opened queen cell, so I'm assuming they superceded.  Also, I can't find the original queen (who was marked), further confirming that they superceded.  Only thing that's odd is that there was just that one single queen cell - I thought they usually built several?

Anyway, we're back on track and everyone is happy!

Thanks!