I just checked on the bees that were brought home from the cutout of the 100-year-old brick building in Brodhead on July 25th. I'm wondering if I can be optimistic that they did successfully raise a queen based on their change in behavior to being quite peaceful and calm?
I was not able to spot either the queen or any eggs. However, the comb is quite a mess, so visualizing all the surfaces is really difficult.
Here is the timeline and observations for this hive since the cutout:
Day Day of Week Date
1 Monday 7/23 (possible date egg laid)
3 Wednesday 7/25 (cutout - make queenless)
4 Thursday 7/26 (equivalent to "grafting day" for purposes of using a calculator)
9 Tuesday 7/31 I *think* I saw up to 3 queen cells. Hive was highly defensive. Could not check the whole hive due to bees being agitated.
19 Friday 8/10 Hive check. I could not find the "queen cells" from previous check. Bees were still somewhat defensive. Most available cells full of nectar. Not a lot of pollen stored.
21-22 8/12 - 8/13 Potential mating flights
27 Saturday 8/18 Hive was exceptionally calm. Did not spot queen or eggs. Very small amount of pollen stored. Their numbers are down but there are still bees on most of the 9 layens frames (equivalent to 2 medium frames each). A fair amount of new comb built on the frames with cutout comb.