Hives swarmed and I have questions

[Keith13]

I went in and checked my hive that swarmed last Thursday, 3 days later. I went through the entire hive and did not see a single egg or larvae. Is that a problem or could I have a virgin queen that has not begun to lay yet?

Keith

[SgtMaj]

My guess would be that you have a virgin queen and that the old queen stopped laying as she slimmed down for flight.

[Two Bees]

I have the same situation in my two second year hives.  Went through them on Saturday and saw plenty of bees, pollen, and curing nectar but no brood.  Both hives have had two swarms over the past 2-3 weeks so it doesn't really surprise me.  I plan to check back in another 2-3 weeks and see if the new queens have bred and doing their thing!

[indypartridge]

...  Both hives have had two swarms over the past 2-3 weeks so it doesn't really surprise me.  I plan to check back in another 2-3 weeks and see if the new queens have bred and doing their thing!

Keep an eye on those hives. Review your "bee math" so you'll know when to expect to have a laying queen.
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesmath.htm

Be ready to buy a queen if too much time passes.

[Brian D. Bray]

I went in and checked my hive that swarmed last Thursday, 3 days later. I went through the entire hive and did not see a single egg or larvae. Is that a problem or could I have a virgin queen that has not begun to lay yet?

Keith

Some hives will swarm early, that is anytime between when the queen cells are capped to when the 1st cell hatches.  The earlier a hive swarms after the queen cells are capped the less evidence of brood will be seen in the parent hive when it is checked.  It is possible that you've actually had 2 swarms from your hive, one early one and one with one of the virgin queens.  After swarms can deplete a hive into nonexistance.  Then there's the chance the queen was lost during a mating flight.

I's wait about 5-7 days and check for evidence of eggs or brood.  If you don't see put in a frame of brood that ranges from eggs to capped pupae and see what happens.  If a queen cell or 2 appear the new queen was lost.

[Michael Bush]

>I went in and checked my hive that swarmed last Thursday

Then odds are the queen cells were JUST capped on Thursday.

>3 days later. I went through the entire hive and did not see a single egg or larvae.

The queens would not even have emerged yet.  It will be another five days until they emerge and another two weeks after that before they are laying so from when they swarmed that's 22 days before you have any reason to expect to have a laying queen.  Meantime they cut back on brood rearing to make all those nurse bees unemployed so they could spare them and so the queen could fly.

> Is that a problem or could I have a virgin queen that has not begun to lay yet?

You almost surely do not have a virgin queen yet, but should have in a few days.

[Keith13]

Thanks for all the replys :)

Keith