new beek needs help, possible queen less

[JimmyP]

Hello,
I inspected my hives this morning and found that one colony appears queen less. The last time a checked (7 days ago) there was some larvae, no eggs(that I could tell) and a lot of honey and pollen. This is a new colony started in June from a nuc. The brood chamber is 10 frame deep and I just placed a medium 10 frame (also want as brood chamber) on top because 80-90% frames had been filled in the deep with bees and honey. I was hoping to have 2 boxes for brood before the fall nectar flow (this is my goal). Also, I see on one of the frames a peanut cell (in the middle, presume queen cell), which was there last week.

My question, it appears that my colony is "honey bound and queen less." Did I hurt the colony by adding the medium box? (as the numbers were prolific in the first one) and should I consider replacing the queen with a mated one? I was also thinking of switching a frame of brood from another colony, but the other one is slower in growth and may need a new queen as she is older.

Thank you
Jimmy

[FRAMEshift]

If you have a queen cell in a hive that has the characteristics you like, I would leave it alone.  And since you have the first deep full, you might move some of the brood frames up to the upper box and replace them with empty frames.  That will help expand the brood nest.

[Kathyp]

i'd also add that frame of eggs.  the old queen will replace quickly.  you can allow them to raise their own queen IF you have drones.  if drones are gone in your area, you'll have to make sure you are queenless and then either combine hives or order a queen.

i'm wondering if that hive has not swarmed.  if the old queen ran out of room to lay, they may have taken off.

[JimmyP]

Thank you both for the input.  I am not sure about the swarm, but, that is a good point. I have kept my eye on them from the outside throughout the weeks. I never noticed the classic signs of a swarm. I also never saw any "swarm buttons" developing on the bottom of the frames. If she ran out of space, would there be a quick mass exodus? The number of bees also seem pretty much the same. They just kept increasing every week. Also is it strange that they seem to be very calm? I was reading that if the hive is not queen right, there is a tendency for them to be more agitated. They seem to be just as gentle as when I got them.

I have had them for a month now, I am amazed how fast they multiply.