Wondering if anyone has queens or sell or a recommendation where to get one. I've never done this.
I lost one of two hives over the winter. (looks like starvation/condensation? no mite signs and plenty of stored honey. Second, smaller hive, has shown activity but I inspected today and there is no brood. Dead bees on bottom board and some dead in cells (starvation) -(this hive also had plenty of honey stores). The active bees seem to be clustered around the remaining capped brood (1/6th of a frame ?) Lots of activity bringing in pollen but no sign of eggs or larvae. So seems I lost my queen.
Note that these are two hives that I split out of desperation when my bees swarmed last May (after swarm, too) so the Queens were brand new and seemed to go into the Winter well with plenty of brood, honey, etc..
Any recommendations for where I could get a new queen? Do I need bees too? Or do I just need to start over :( This was my second winter beekeeping so still learning. I'm hesitant to just explore on line.