Queen cell question

[Natalie]

I hived a colony from a nuc at the third week of May.
The queen was laying as I saw eggs at my inspection.
About two weeks after I hived them I noticed a capped queen cell in the upper middle of one of the frames. It was the first time I noticed it and it was already capped, I haven't got any idea how long it was there since the bees could have been covering it.
I left it alone and checked it a few days later and it was still the same way.
7 days after that I went out to inspect and the cell was opened on the bottom, there were eggs in the frames but I couldn't find the queen, I figured as long as there were eggs all was right in the world.
My question would they cap an empty queen cell for some reason?
They never acted like or appeared to be queenless.
If there were a new queen I am assuming that I would not see eggs that quickly.
The queen would have had to hatch in the last 7 days and then be laying eggs.
My other thought is that there are two queens at the moment, the old one still laying and the new one not mated yet, which seems to be the more likely scenario.
Still though, I am wondering if they ever build and then actually cap the cells and not use them.

[iddee]

>>>>My other thought is that there are two queens at the moment, the old one still laying and the new one not mated yet<<<<

That's my guess. They may remove the old queen once the new one is laying well.

I removed a queen and five frames of brood this spring to make a nuc. The original hive was never without eggs. There had to be two queens there.

[Kathyp]

two queen hives are a good thing!!

[Natalie]

This is my absolute favorite hive for temperment too, they are just very mellow.
I am not even sure what they are, I bought them from someone who got them from a wall of a barn they had been living in for a while.
They are from new york so I think they should do well here for our winters.
I will look for the queen/queens at my next inspection to see what I can see.