Queenless, broodless

[Need2BEE]

How long will the bees stay in a hive, with no brood, eggs, or queen? Only thing i see is capped honey and filling of comb. No Comb building.. all empty cells are empty. No Queen cells. They are very quiet , 10 to 15 on front ramp. Also this was a hive i got about 2 weeks ago, that was abandoned by previous owner 2 years ago (Terrible shape)   .. Been raining since i got them, today was the first time i have went inside.. At least 4 pounds or better of bees, med. is packed...I do have a Queen Coming as of Today, will be here Friday...Maybe the rain has kept  them here,  But it has stopped for the next few days.

[bassman1977]

How long will the bees stay in a hive, with no brood, eggs, or queen?

Until they die.  Long time basically.

At least 4 pounds or better of bees,

This is good.

I do have a Queen Coming as of Today, will be here Friday

Good news.  They should accept her pretty well if they are queenless.

Maybe the rain has kept  them here,

They aren't gong anywhere.

But it has stopped for the next few days.

Got any more hives?  You can take a frame of eggs from another hive and add it to the queenless one.  They can get started on building some emergency queens.  If something happens to the new queen, they will have a head start on the emergency queens.

I wonder if the original queen got stuck in the rain or got eaten by a bird.  Will never know.   :-\