That being said, I suspected the queen was gone from Hive-D.3 as soon as I opened it because when I gave my first puff of smoke the hive began to roar with the sound of flapping wings. I also got stung (6) times – those queenless hives are cantankerous.
The last time I checked D.3, I couldn’t find any young larva or eggs but there were (3) frames of brood. I told myself that it was just late in the afternoon and it was too dark to see – but it wasn’t. The queen was gone and now there is no brood left in the hive.
The two mini nucs are building comb but there is no eggs, larva, or brood – so no queens either.
I think I have reached a turning point because none of this bothered me. Not because I don’t care but because I am sure I can fix the problem.
Wednesday is my beekeeping day and so I think I will bring home a hive from Dr. D’s and take Hive-D.3 out there. If Hive-D has a new queen (Which I pray it does), then I will bring it home (assuming it has now calmed down).
If that goes according to plan, then I can start grafting queens right away from Hive-D.
As for Hive-D.3, I will place a frame of eggs from Hive-D.2 into it and let it re-queen itself.
While I have a queenless hive and two queenless nucs, I am still leaving my count at (9) hives and (2) mini nucs.