Trouble! - Queenless Hives

[Dr. Abe]

I just went through several of my hives and noticed an issue. 4 of the hives had no queen! 2 were trying to re-queen and I am trying to figure out what caused this to happen. They were very prolific colonies with great queens fresh this past April. It is disappointing also because they had started bringing in lots of nectar and now the population is dwindling and things look very poor.

I think it may be possible that they swarmed but I never saw any capped swarm cells earlier or swarms. I guess how does the original hive look like inside after a swarm?

The 2 hives that never lost their queen are doing very good with 2 medium supers full of honey and a 3rd starting.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

how does the original hive look like inside after a swarm?

exactly as they did before, but with no queen - just a bunch of Queen cells.
How many QCs were there in each of the queenless hives?

 

[ericbeaumont]

it may be possible that they swarmed but I never saw

What was the timing of your inspections this season? Every 7 days without fail, or with more elasticity?

 

[Dr. Abe]

exactly as they did before, but with no queen - just a bunch of Queen cells.
How many QCs were there in each of the queenless hives?

There were only 1 or 2 and out of the middle of the frames.

 

[Dr. Abe]

What was the timing of your inspections this season? Every 7 days without fail, or with more elasticity?

It was pretty close to every 7 days but I will say it may have been 9-10 days a few times.

I didn't always look at each hive in detail every time but 2 weeks ago the hives looked super.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It was pretty close to every 7 days but I will say it may have been 9-10 days a few times.

I didn't always look at each hive in detail every time but 2 weeks ago the hives looked super.

There's your answer. During swarming season you have to look at each frame in detail every 7 days (sometimes less) Bees hide queen cells all over the place. If I spot a queen cell every frame has bees shaken or brushed off to look for others
If you miss queen cells the bees swarm more than once