Central, KY Zone 6b
I split a hive on 4/11, this past Monday (5/4) I checked that hive and saw no signs of a queen. I took a frame of eggs (which ended up being from the hive I split off of them with the old queen in tow) and put it in there to see if they’d make queen cells.
They did not make queen cells, they just capped everything over.
Does this mean there’s a queen in there somewhere and I’m missing her? I don’t see any signs of a queen laying, no eggs or larvae and the hive is somewhat loud.
Compared to the hive I had to split on 4/4 (early but had swarm cells already) their virgin didn’t make it, I gave them eggs and they made several queen cells.
So, I have a queen arriving today and have to make a choice. Should I assume Hive 1 (4/11 split) has a queen since they just capped that cell over, or donate this Queen to them? They’re significantly larger, a whole double deep of bees so the queen would get better use in the vs. the other which is a single deep.
Thanks in advanced, I’m really confused.