Not sure if I have laying workers

[rmdial]

2nd year beekeeper. Last year lost one hive to laying workers cause I did not know what to look for in my hive til it was too late. My other hive did very well despite my inexperience.

This year I have a hive that has seemed to be very healthy with lots of eggs, larvae, and capped brood cells just like examples I see everywhere.

Today I went to this hive thinking I might put on a honey super and see what I could get from them this year. I decided to do a full inspection. Lots of bees, honey (deeps), pollen but no sign of new egg, larvae, or capped brood. Also, no swarm or superceder cells. Lots of nectar/honey in frames. Drones are there but it does not seem like an abundance of them nor are there drone cells.

So, of course I am wondering if I have lost the queen in the last couple of weeks so no new brood.

I will go back later this week to inspect.

What should do if I determine there is no queen? I know from my experience last year that if I put a new queen in she may be rejected and the laying workers will continue their laying.

I know the newspaper method but am not sure how to do this properly.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Soapy

[Kathyp]

if you don't find scattered drone cells, and only drone cells, you probably don't have laying workers.  the fastest way to know if you have a queen is to put  a frame of eggs and very young larvae into the hive.  if they begin queen cells, they are most likely queenless.  if they do not, go back and search again.  she may have taken a break from laying, but is still in there, or she has been replaced and the new queen is not laying.

they usually tear out the old queen cells, so absence of cells does not mean they have not superseded the old queen.