Need Advice on Year-Old Hive

[sarafina]

First of all - I checked my newly hived bees and queen was released, they are building comb and sucking syrup like crazy so all is good with my new hive.

My year-old hive is another story.  Last week I went in and found what looked like several empty queen cups at the bottom of the frames in my top box.  So I am assuming my queen was superceded or maybe they swarmed and I missed it.  I checked today and could not find any open larvae or capped larvae.  Lots of pollen, nectar and honey stores.  The bees were unusually QUIET.  I have read they buzz louder if they are queenless, so I assume they have a new queen and she just hasn't started laying yet.

What should I do?  Check every week for larvae? (my eyesight isn't good enough to see eggs)  At what point should I purchase a queen if there are no new brood?  My other hive is just starting out so it is no help and I only have these two.

Thanks!
Sarah

[jdpro5010]

Yes, I would check again in a week or so and if you don't see anything by then I would add a frame of eggs and larvae from the other hive.  Once you have heard the buzz of a queenless hive you don't tend to miss it again.  So if the hive seemed quiet then I would think you at least have an unmated queen in there.  Good luck!

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm

[sarafina]

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm

Thanks, Michael!  I already checked out your site because I remembered you had all the hatch and laying times spelled out and I copied your "bee math" to a text document so I can refer to it.

I will leave them alone until next weekend and then check for larvae.  The girls are bringing in pollen and the hive activity and sounds seem normal so hopefully they have made a new queen and she has been mated to a non-AHB drone and taking care of business.