I need to decide whether to re-queen a productive hive. These are my hive records.
11/7/16 - e, l, sb; 9 frames with sb; temper good.
26/7/16 - 8 sealed Qcells; 7 frames with sb; temper good; to forestall possible swarming I harvested the Q swarm cells for incubator and apideas .
31/7/16 - sb only present and no sign of Q cell formation; fearing Q loss I added a vQ in a cage.
27/8/16 - no eggs or brood. This hive seems Qless - lots of bees, no brood, grumpy, but still bringing in pollen and still with drones.
So, do I wait longer in the hope that a possibly mated Q decides to lay in a still crowded hive (2 supers), or do I merge with an apidea and its laying Q before laying workers develop?
Alan.