Would bees expose their Nasanov gland even if queenless?

[twb]

We have a hive we suspect to be queenless.  It has produced some unmated queens but we have no drones yet here, so I requeened it with a caged, mated queen.  We first looked thru for any unmated queens or cells.  While doing this, some bees exposed their Nasonov gland and this made me suspect they have a queen even though we saw nothing.  So, is it a sign of a queenright hive or just an instictive reaction to tell all their bees where home is?

[Michael Bush]

Yes queenless and queenright hives will nasonov.  Queenless hives more so as they are hoping to guide their lost queen home.