Package queen has been dethroned

[CBEE]

Went to check on one of my packages yesterday and noticed a large bee crawling around in front of the hive. When I looked a little closer I noticed it was the marked and clipped queen that came with the package!! It was odd because she was all by herself with no other bees around her or even paying attention for that matter. I didnt have time to pull things open and lookfor another queen so I popped the top off and sat her right next to the hole in the inner cover. None of the bees on the inner cover really paid any attention to her so I put the top back on and had to leave. Just before dark I looked at the hive and there she was outside the hive again..  :?  There is no entrance on the top so she had to go all the way through to get outside again... I figure there was something wrong with her and they requeened themselves. They won't let her stay in but they didn't kill here either.
It will be a few days before I can do an inspection to check for a new queen or queen cups. :roll:

[Brian D. Bray]

I would say they kicked her out after capping the supercedure cells of her replacement(s).  Some hives will do that, kick out the queen or the swarm as soon as the queen cells have been capped.  That makes for a longer brood dearth within the hive that is bad for hive growth but a sure winner for varroa control.

If you can't find a queen but see queen cells, do not remove any as that is your queen for this hive.

[CBEE]

Gotcha... Thanks Brian