It is one of the questions members ask most, especially in late spring and early summer: is my colony queenless, or is there a queen I just haven’t found?
First, not seeing eggs isn’t proof. A newly mated queen can take a while to start laying, and a virgin queen needs time to emerge, mature, fly out to mate and return. In poor weather that can take longer than people expect, and many experienced beekeepers say not to panic until about six weeks have passed.
Use a test frame to check for a queenless colony
A test frame is the most reliable check, and several members have used it successfully this year.
- Take a frame of eggs and very young larvae (under three days old) from another colony, shake off the bees, and make sure you haven’t moved that colony’s queen.
- Put it in the colony you are worried about and close up.
- Look again after a few days, and again at about a week. If the bees are drawing out queen cells on the frame, the colony is queenless, because bees raise emergency queens only when they have none.
- If they aren’t, there is probably a queen in there, or something the bees treat as one.
Other clues
Temper is a clue, not proof. Colonies without a queen can turn irritable, but calm bees often mean there is a queen present. It is also worth checking the supers, as a queen can slip past an excluder and lay up there. If you can’t find her, shaking the bees into the brood box and checking the excluder for gaps can help.
If the test frame comes back negative
If there are no queen cells but still no eggs, the cause could be a queen that has stopped laying properly, a drone-laying queen or laying workers. These are harder to put right, so it is worth asking for help.
If the colony is queenless
You can let the bees raise their own queen from the test frame, or introduce a new one. Our post on introducing a new queen has some tips. Whichever you choose, give the bees time before you open the hive again.
Not sure what you are looking at? Photos help. Ask in the community group or contact us, as members are usually happy to help. For more on telling whether a hive is queenless, see this guide from Beespoke.