Hey everyone! I'm still very new to beekeeping. Only my second year! Last season, sometime in August I lost my queen. Not sure how just upon inspection she was nowhere to be found and no new eggs. I tried to requeen and the hive rejected her.
This year things were off to a great start! New nucleus, bees were doing great! About a week ago during inspection I saw the queen, she was healthy, lots of new eggs and brood.
I just finished a hive inspection, Did not find the queen, no new eggs, lots of brood. And some queen cells. I lifted the second brood box off and in doing so damaged the wax the bees like to build between the two brood boxes. I notice a queen cell that had been opened with the removal of the box. To my untrained eye, it definitely looked like a queen, large long body with deep golden coloration. I only saw her back end, I turned to place the upper brood box down and as I turned back I caught a glimpse of her quickly run down between the frames. I looked all over the adjacent frames and could not find her again. (again, I'm a noobie.)
So here is the end question. Should I be worried? What am I doing wrong that my hive keeps losing queens, and if what I saw was indeed a new queen should I let the hive do its thing or try to requeen?
This year things were off to a great start! New nucleus, bees were doing great! About a week ago during inspection I saw the queen, she was healthy, lots of new eggs and brood.
I just finished a hive inspection, Did not find the queen, no new eggs, lots of brood. And some queen cells. I lifted the second brood box off and in doing so damaged the wax the bees like to build between the two brood boxes. I notice a queen cell that had been opened with the removal of the box. To my untrained eye, it definitely looked like a queen, large long body with deep golden coloration. I only saw her back end, I turned to place the upper brood box down and as I turned back I caught a glimpse of her quickly run down between the frames. I looked all over the adjacent frames and could not find her again. (again, I'm a noobie.)
So here is the end question. Should I be worried? What am I doing wrong that my hive keeps losing queens, and if what I saw was indeed a new queen should I let the hive do its thing or try to requeen?