Queen right? Queen wrong :-(

Hive 1 is queenless! I have no idea what happened. I did not see anything inside the hive today– to the best of my newbee ability –  that might explain. I did not see any eggs, very little brood and reduced population from last week. I saw many queen cells and one which looked opened. So maybe they reared a new queen. I have no idea. Now I have to wonder if the beard wasn’t a beard after all…

H1B2F8-6-9-16
HIve 1 Box 2 Frame 8

 

H1B2F3-6-9-16
Hive 1 Box 2 Frame 3

 

H1B1F4-6-9-16
Hive 1 Box 1 Frame 4

 

H1B1-6-9-16
Hive 1 Box 1

Underwhelming compared to two weeks ago. Last week when I did my hive check I only went into Box  2. Things looked good. Pehaps Box 1 was already imploding. Here’s what’s also strange, Hive 2 also had a queen cell, though I did see eggs and larva.

 

H2B2F4-6-9-16
Hive 2 Box 2 Frame 4

One of today’s objectives was to do my second alcohol wash to test for Verroa mites. It was a little unnerving because I could hot find the queen anywhere (Box 2). Tomorrow I will look through the 300 test bees to confirm that the queen is not among them. I was surprised to see no mites for Hive 2. Hive 1 had 4 mites.

I also removed the entrance reduces on both hives. I was supposed to remove the bottom boards to help increase circulation, but plain forgot to do it. Will pull them out tomorrow.

Hive 2 Stats
Box 2
F1 – F3   Honey comb just starting to be drawn out
F4 – F8   Drawn out honey comb
F9 – F10   Honey comb just starting to be drawn out

Box 1
F1 – F3   Bees on all frames. Honey comb just starting to be drawn out.
F4 – F5   Possible queen cells. Bees on all frames. Comb building just starting.
F6 – F10    Bees on all frames
Alcohol wash: 0 mites. Tested from Box 1 Frame 8

Did not see queen
Did not see a lot of pollen, what there was was on outer frames
Removed entrance reducer

Hive 1 Stats
Super
Bees on all ten frames, not comb

Box 2
F1 – F2   No comb
F3
F4
F5
F6
F7   Queen cell?
F8
F9 – F10   No comb

Box 1
F1   No comb
F2
F3   Lots of pollen + honey
F4
F5
F6
F7
F8
F9
F10

Did not see queen
Did not see larva
Saw very little capped brood
Little pollen, little honey
Removed queen excluder last Saturday
Removed entrance reducer
Honey super: Bees on all ten frames, no comb yet
Box 2: Frames 1-2 and 9-10  no comb  Queen cell Frame 7
Box 1: Frames 1 no comb  Frame 3 pollen and honey
Alcohol wash: 4 mites. Tested from Box 1 Frame 5
Removed honey super