how long will bees make it without a queen.

[hardtime]

took a look  at a hive to day seen thay were a little weak  when  i  looked  in little brood  thay had filled in alot of  poll. and  honey  tryed  to queen  cell  it nothen it it i seen .    ok i have  a queen on way be here next  wed.  will thay be ok   do i nead  to let them  let her out  or just turn  her out myself 

[Kathyp]

if you can take a frame of brood from another hive...older brood and larvae that they can't make queen cells out of, that would help a lot and hopefully keep them from developing laying workers before your queen arrives.  i would let them let her out or not release her before a few days have gone by.

are you very sure that you have no queen?  a lot of queens have not been laying with weather, lack of food, etc.

[riverrat]

sounds like you may have a queen that has shut down and they are back filling the brood chamber getting ready for winter I would put in a frame of eggs to see if they try to make a queen. If it is week you may concider combining with another hive then splitting in the spring back to two

[Mason]

I have a similar situation with my two hives,

I am feeding this week due to lack of honey stores and planning to check the hives again in a week to see more clearly what might be going on.  I think we are supposed to have a late flow in GA.

One hive has very little larva and the other has none that i can find.  Plenty of capped brood in both hive.  Few honey stores.  No SHB or mites.