Test frame failure?

[Bumble]

Added a test frame 5 days ago. Had a family emergency which meant going away, so only got to check today. No queen cells, so there should be a queen. Right?

This is a split that had a nice fat queen cell, had been left long enough for her to hatch, mate and start laying, but that time included the cold wet spell, so I assumed she'd perished. Her queen cell vanished, completely vanished, no trace of it left on the marked frame. There has been no sign of eggs or brood, only frames of nectar and pollen, no sign of an arch ready for laying, so I assumed the colony needed a new queen.

What to do? Another test frame, or do I go queen shopping?

[Jon]

You almost certainly have a virgin queen in there.What are the dates involved. have you left 3 -4 weeks from the emergence date?

[Jimbo]

I agree with Jon,

If nothing happened with the test frame there is a queen in there. From my experience it can take a bit longer for a mated queen to get going if it is in a strong split. One day you will go in and find that she has layed up a frame. It is great feeling when this happens as you know everything you have done has worked.

[Bumble]

Looks as if I need to be more patient. It's been a long, cold, spring. Original QC was capped 2nd/3rd May. Hatching and timing of mating flights should have been during a spell of very cold, wet or overcast and misty weather so I wasn't particularly optimistic but maybe she did come through it successfully, after all.

The colony doesn't look as if it's got a queen, and doesn't seem to be preparing for egg laying.

[Neils]

You can always repeat the test. It can be up to 5 weeks for a virgin queen to come into lay. You can always repeat the test frame, brood in an apparently queenless and otherwise broodless hive certainly doesn't hurt.