2 questions

[rober]

1- went thru the queenless hive. this hive has been without brood for 2-3 weeks. there were 2 queen cells that were open but had white stuff at the bottom. there was also sporadic brood that looked to be drone brood. without eggs i did not think they could make a queen but i could have missed the eggs. i also put a weak queen in the hive but she died in the cage. could the sporadic brood mean i have laying workers? can a hive go to laying workers in 2-3 weeks?
2-found 2 cocoons laterally across the comb & a larva about the size of a queen. ( see photo ). does the cocoon look like a wax moth?

[David McLeod]

Laying workers

Wax moth

Hive is terminal.

Btw, the cage queen didnt just die she was rejected and killed.

[rober]

so what do i do with it? shke out the bees & & store the hives bodies & frames?

[danno]

shake out the bee's and freeze the frames for a couple of days the store

[rober]

i have 2 hives that are ready for a 2nd brood box. if i shake off the bees can i use these frames or would that encourage more laying workers in the new hive?

[Vance G]

Just stack the bees and boxes on the hives ready for boxes.  The good colony will clean up the mess and the geriatrics you have int he washout will probably turn into field bees.

[rober]

i shook most of the bees of of the frames in front of the new hives & put those frames in the new hives. i put the empty bottom ( with bees ) board on top of the new hive. hopefully most of them will join the other hives. there were still a lot of bees in that colony. so now i'm at 9 colonies. i cannot believe how calm these bees stayed throughouy the change process. since i was going to shake them off of the frames i did not bother to smoke them.