Queenless and not sure what to do.

[VTnewbee]

I asked this question in the General Beekeeping section and then realized there was a "Requeening" section.  Sorry, you're not suffering from deja vu!

My bees swarmed approximately 2 weeks ago and I was hoping the remaining colony would make a new queen.  My husband and I did an inspection on Monday and again this afternoon, hoping to find a queen or eggs and we still haven't seen any.  The one hopeful thing is that we did find maybe 10 or so open queen cells and maybe a couple unopened ones, but that was it.  There's still a nice population of bees there and tons of honey and pollen and some capped brood, but no sign of a laying queen at the moment.  What do you suggest I do?  Continue being patient in hopes that some of those open queen cells produced a soon to be viable queen, or order a queen right away?  Is it too late to requeen in Vermont?  The one place I planned on getting a queen from if I ever needed to requeen is out for the year, so if I do need to order one, I'd love to hear any suggestions on where to get one.  Thanks everyone!

[Cheryl]

Give them another week... Going from a virgin queen to a mated and fully laying queen sometimes takes several weeks. She may be in there, it's too early to tell... and when she does start laying her pattern may be a little weird at first (she has to get the hang of it).

Have a backup plan (i.e. call around for availability of mated queens) just in case.

[VTnewbee]

Thank you Cheryl!  By back-up plan, I assume you mean ordering a queen?  I'm not sure I have any other option considering the fact that I only have one hive.  I know people with multiple hives sometimes combine two but I don't have that option unfortunately!  But hopefully they'll succeed in raising a new queen.  Fingers are crossed!

[Cheryl]

By backup plan, I mean checking around for availability and maybe placing a "hold" on one, that you can cancel later if you find your queen.

My guess is she's in there and you'll know soon enough.

[Michael Bush]

Anytime there is a question, I give them a frame of eggs and open brood and I've covered both the question and the answer.