Trap out from behind a brick wall - advice appreciated

[OzBuzz]

Hi everybody, just a bit of an update... The trap out is going really well! The second box I put there though is queenless... The cell doesn't appear to have been successful and they don't appear to have turned any of the eggs in to a queen. I'm tossing up as to whether I should add another frame of brood or just buy in a queen... In any case - no bees have come out of the cone for the last week. Is it ok to remove the cone to let them clean out the wall? How would their being queenless impact on the success of that? I don't want them to move back in to the wall - especially if the queen happens to be sitting in there still. The removal is in its 6th week now - is that too soon? Could there still be some capped brood that will hatch over the coming days?

[iddee]

There could be brood and a queen left. I would put in another frame of eggs and wait 3 days, then check for a queen cell.

When you do remove the cone, look for bees carrying pollen in the house. If one bee goes in loaded with pollen, replace cone.

[OzBuzz]

Success!  my first ever trapout and it went incredibly well! householder is happy and the bees are happy! I ended up taking two hives off the trap out and both of them raised their own queens! I've now got another two trapouts on the go and one more to set-up - although we're in march now and coming up to winter!

[iddee]

Buy a lot of sugar..............

[OzBuzz]

I'm already stockpiling it hahaha... thanks Iddee for all of your help and advice!