Dud queencell? What to do next?

[Neonach]

The hive (A) which from which I made an artificial swarm - 3 weeks ago now - was left with three supersedure Queen cells. Of those two subsequently got torn down, but the third is still there, sealed. No queen in colony - absolutely no brood. Seeing as they must have been a few days old at least when I made the swarm, I guess I have to conclude that for some reason it has failed. There's a lot of bees in there (including lots of drones), and they've not been idle: the brood chamber is packed to the rafters with pollen and honey. Another two hives have what I believe are still virgin queen (no brood yet), but not so many bees. The fourth colony is queen right and doing well. Bearing in mind it's now getting late in the year, I guess I'm going to have to unite. I'm thinking to introduce one of the virgin queens to the strong queenless hive, and the rest of that hive (which is the weakest) unite with the colony of the other virgin queen. Should I wait until the two virgin Queens are mated and laying, or better to do it now. Why do books never help you with real life situations like this!?

[Jimbo]

Has the agressivness changed? If a colony is queenless it usually changes. The other thing to do is put in a frame with eggs into the hive. If nothing happens then there is a queen in there. If no queen then they will make queen cells. Once you have done this check then you can decide what you want to do. It is still not to late to get a queen mated.

[Neonach]

Hive A - which I believe failed to hatch a queen - has become more docile (not that any of mine are particularly agressive), though they are still very active foraging. I notice that in drawing comb they are making a lot of drone cells, which the queen's pheremones should supress. I've only one queenright colony producing eggs, and I've already taken a frame from that for the same purpose to Hive B, and which now has an queen - albeit not yet laying. I'm reluctant to take another frame of brood. I'll leave it a couple of days (less windy weather required!), check Hive A again, and if still no sign of a queen I'll see if if the queenright colony can spare some new brood. Failing that I guess I may end up uniting the queenless hive with one of the others.

[Adam]

I would leave the virgin to mate in the hive she is in now and not risk a transfer. With just one laying queen why take risks?
As far as putting in a test frame - it doesn't have to be permanent. If you put a test frame in a colony you can remove it after a few days and pop it back. All that's happened is that some other bees have looked after if for a while. Think of it as the kids going to the child-minders!

If two queencells have been torn down, then I would suspect a queen is in the hive. (Were they torn down from the back? - this is indicative of a queen destroying her sisters). Apart from a test frame, Have a look at the brood area. if there are polished cells where the brood would usually be; that's an indication that there is a queen in the hive as the bees are ready for her to start laying. If the brood area is being filled with pollen or honey then you can assume that the queen is not present.

if you know your queencell is over 14 days old, then do open it. You may find that the lid has been sealed up again; there may even be a worker bee intombed inside.

Your problem illustrates why it is good to keep open queencells when doing an artificial swarm and destroy sealed ones - you know there is a larva in an open queencell! Otherwise you never really know.