Pretty sure I'm queenless :(

[wcubed]

Kathy:
Thanks for the tip on maneuvering.

Did quite a few cutouts in the early years. Don't remember them all, but do remember two cases of two colonies in the same structure. Would guess something upscale of a dozen.

It's difficult for me to imagine comb of this irregularity would not come to my attention in the tie-in process. We are saving brood comb, and that's what we're handling most. Possible, but IMO not likely. Considered myself a novice for 10 years, and the cutout period was in the 3 to 6 years range.

That leaves open the question of regionality. My bees operate in an area that supports repro swarming in accordance with their heritage.
They get it done right and on time.

Lost last night was the only times I've seen that irregular cell shape comb. Lost and QX bees that clustered for the mutual benifits, such as nest scouts doing their thing when the swarm was removed or escapees from a semi load with inadequate netting. Those would be senior bees or foragers above wax making/comb building age. How does that play out in your area?

Note that second generation comb in the lower right corner (new and white) is drawn in nice neat hexes in rows. It's difficult to tell in the photo, but it does look to be drone size. Tell me what that means to you.

Walt

[Kathyp]

it would be nice to see a shot across the frames to be sure.  in pic 2 i see very small larvae.  in pic 4 i am reasonably certain that most of those capped cells are worker.  both these things indicate the presence, or at least recent presence of a queen.  without knowing the ratio of worker to drone i would not hazard a guess about the quality of the queens work, but the brook pattern looks tight in spite of the drone cells.

in my opinion she's ok, should watch things, should consider replacing the queen if it looks like things are going south in another month or so.

we all know about opinions  ;)

[bee-nuts]

Lunawriter

Please let us know how this turns out!!  Some more pics in a couple weeks would be nice.  Look for that queen too and get a pic when you find her!!