Requeening... This could have gone much worse if I had tried! NEED ADVICE!

[CpnObvious]

I have spoken of my hive, OR1, on several occasions over the past month.  This hive ended last year being CRAZY-STRONG!  This year they have been very active, but the queen has been worthless.  I have spoken of her laying before:  She would roam around looking as though she's lost and only lay an egg on occasion.  The frames were their comb that they built last year and overwintered with.  I would imagine it is clean, though I have added additional frames of new foundation... but I'm not that far in the story yet.  Her laying pattern I have described as looking like birdshot at 100 yards.  The bees were pouring in with nectar  and pollen that they were essentially going to become honey/nectar-bound.  In an attempt to thwart this, I had given them a honey super with fresh foundation thinking maybe they would put some effort into drawing the comb.  Needless to say, after two weeks they still hadn't touched it, but were continuing to fill the rest of the hive with nectar and pollen.  Because of how full the 2 brood deeps were getting, I decided to throw on a 3 deep (on the bottom) filled with both new foundation and a couple of drawn comb frames.  All this time I have been looking for a new queen, but it's been too early in this neck of the woods to get one.  I was finally able to procure a new queen yesterday, and this is how it went... HORRIBLY!

To start:  The bellows of my smoker are no longer pumping air out the hole...  All the air is leaving through the fabric.  So I KNEW this wasn't going to be pretty going in.  This hive has been a bit defensive lately as it was.  I have the new queen in my pocket, a queen clip clipped to my other pocket.  I'm rip-roaring, ready to go!  I open the hive and set the cover to the side.  I begin the process of pissing them off gently removing each frame and meticulously searching each and every frame of the top deep for the queen.  A few random capped brood here and there, some small larva, no eggs, no queen.  I set the hive body onto the outer cover and place a queen excluder on it.  I repeat the same process for the middle hive body.  I place the box on the other with the excluder in between.  The bees, though not happy, but have been pretty tolerant up until this point.  As I go through the 3rd, and final, box they are REALLY letting me know what they think of my intrusion, if ya know what I mean.    Still no queen.  I now backtrack the entire process... I dig back through the bottom (3rd) deep, dig through the middle, place the middle back on top of the 3rd, dig through the top deep... never found the queen or eggs.

I was nervous about pulling the cork so the bees could eat the new queen out of her cage in fear that I somehow missed the old queen, so I hung her in the middle deep hoping the hive will care for her until I figure out what to do.  I hope and pray this was the right thing to do.  I then placed the top deep back on, covered the hive, and walked away, WAAAAAAAY beyond frustrated!

things worthy of mention:

1) This queen is exceptionally plump and was a laying-machine last year
2) I had suspected tracheal mites in this hive because of some K-Wing, I have a couple of pics, I tried treating with menthol-laced sugar/Crisco patties... they never touched it.  I made 2 attempts at this.  I've heard second hand that the state inspector says that we haven't seen tracheal mites in MA in 5-6 years.
3) I do not see signs of varroa EXCEPT that I did find 3 bees with DWV.  From what I understand, this would have been passed on by the queen into the egg?
4) They were about 8-10 queen cups, none with eggs, no signs of supercedure.
5) I saw no eggs at all in the hive, but signs that she would have laid eggs within the last 5-ish days.
6) They won't draw new comb, but they will keep bringing in pollen and nectar.  I guess there was a LITTLE new comb starting to be drawn on some virgin foundation, but not really enough to deserve this sentence about it.

There may be more I should add...  If I think of it, I'll update this novel.

Please offer any assistance or help in any way you can!  I will not be able to touch the hive again until Sunday afternoon.

[blueblood]

I thought of a couple different things.  I hardly can say I am conventional.  So, having said that, I created my own solution in my head as I was reading.  If that hive is heavy on bees, why not do that following to divide and conquer:  Split in half, all the while looking for the queen.  Put the new queen in one.  In the other, place a frame or section of comb containing eggs to the other.  Maybe this is wrong advice but it's my brain child for now.  It will retard the honey production of this hive I am sure.  Hope you find a solution.   

[brooksbeefarm]

Brush all bees off frames of bottom box, set on bottom board with a queen excluder on top of it (at this point i will set an empty super without frames over the excluder) I then start brushing each frame of bees from the other boxes on top of the excluder looking for the queen. If i don't find her,then i would risk putting the new queen in, most of the time i will find her this way. If not i figured i done all i know to do and wait it out. Jack

[efmesch]

To start:  The bellows of my smoker are no longer pumping air out the hole
This calls for duct tape as a fast, at least temporary fix. My bellows have been working with duct tape for the last half year or so and I just repaired it again yesterday with new duct tape.
It sounds to me like you are in really hot water----but you can cool it off.
First of all, you want to introduce your new queen into a hive that is 100% positively without a queen.
My suggestion may be impractical and is a bit drastic, due to a lack of equipment, but here are the essentials:
1. Move your hive a few feet away from its present position and turn the entrance around, facing in the opposite direction.
2. Place a new floor, empty brood box (you could also use the box with the unbuilt frames from the old hive but make sure there are NO bees that come with it), hive cover and roof exactly where the hive used to be, with the entrance as it was on the old hive.
If your old queen is still alive, she'll stay in the old hive in the new position to which you moved it..  However, field bees will go out from the old hive and return to the new one. 
3. Place frames in the new hive---if possible, built ones, (if you have none, use the advice in the parenthesis above) to collect the bees that return and have room for the nectar they bring in. 
4. Take the queen with her attending bees in the cage and give her a quick sloshing in luke-warm water (definitely not hot!!) and place her in the cage inside the new hive.  This should remove her distinguishing odor and "fool" the returning bees so they don't think they've come into the wrong hive.
The returning bees should join up with her and accept her.  Let them release the queen.
5. After a week, check the old hive for signs of a queen.  If she's definitely gone (no eggs, no young larvae, or there are queen cells) you can re-unite the old hive with the new one using the newspaper method.  Needless to say, if there are queen cells, don't include them in the union (but you could use them to produce a new queen for yourself, keeping them, with a few frames of bees in the moved position.
6. If all went well, your hive should have their new queen released and laying,
I hope I've explained this clearly.  It's a bit complex, but you want to be sure that your new queen is accepted and has no chance of being done in by the old queen or in a very populous hive that might have difficulty in accepting her.

I'm sure you'll hear other suggestions.  Chose the one that suits you best and with which you feel the most secure.

[CpnObvious]

All suggestions make sense and I thank you all. EF, what you said makes perfect sense, thank you. I'll re-read them all tonight and think overnight and on my drive home tomorrow as to how I'll proceed. This is definitely a tough spot to be in. When I go through tomorrow and (if) there are still no eggs, do you think the queen is gone?  I had more to add, but just lost my train of thought... Ugh!

[Mosti]

I am following this thread with great interest. I am in a similar situation with one of my hives though I didn't re queen yet.

[efmesch]

Capn asks: "(if) there are still no eggs, do you think the queen is gone?"
Ef risks an answer" Probably---but....  from your description of the queen's laying, it could be that she was running out of steam.  Maybe now she stopped, but is still there (not likely). 

I would suggest you learn to hear the girls talking to you.  A hive without a queen often tells this to the keeper by a loud "buzzing" when he opens the hive.  This message lasts only a few seconds, but for those who have heard it a few times, it is a clear indication of an absent queen.  Normally, when the hive is opened the bees don't give a  an audible statement  but simply continue with business as usual.  The "queenless message" is very clear.  Also, queenless hives are often very testy, but for a hive that may be hot already, this is  a less distinct method of knowing if you've got a queen or not.

Bottom line: I would be hesitant about introducing a newly purchased  queen into a hive without being 100% certain that the old queen is gone.

[Mosti]

Taking into account the whole story I would still re queen after having gone thoroughly through all the hive in search of  a possible queen.

[Jen]

I kind of agree Mosti, but my personality is thorough... I would have to scour that hive three times in order to not have a queen unneccesarily killed. Just me 

[CpnObvious]

Oiy!  This is NOT going well.

We went to take a stab at this. I'm just lost and REALLY wish one of you more knowledgable folks was out this way...  Maybe one of you should take a road trip!

Any, this hive is not a happy hive. Even if they were extra testy from not having a queen, if that's the case, wouldn't they be a little better now that they do, even if she is trapped in a cage?

We went through all 30 frames and found no queen and no eggs, though I did find what must've been an emergency cell with royal jelly in it.  I destroyed it because of two reasons... 1). I bought a new queen that they WILL accept!  And 2) this hive hasn't been very friendly, I'm not sure I want those genes to carry on.

We couldn't find any eggs or the "old" queen... But we did find 2 or 3 larva that were maybe day 4 or 5. I opted to leave the new queen in her cage for the moment, but I really need to get this straightened out... SOON!

I'm really beginning to think year two is far more complicated than year one.

[brooksbeefarm]

If you found young larva in cells, then you have a queen or a laying worker, either one can get your new queen killed. Jack

[efmesch]

Capn says: "We couldn't find any eggs or the "old" queen... But we did find 2 or 3 larva that were maybe day 4 or 5. I opted to leave the new queen in her cage for the moment, but I really need to get this straightened out... SOON!

Ef says:  You've made your play.  Now the best bet is to stick with it, by not bothering the bees for a week.  With curiousity as strong as I'm sure it must be, that will be a difficult task.  Hopefully, your old queen is gone and the new one will be accepted.  I'm assuming that the queen is in a cage from which she can't be released.  If she's there, alive and kicking when you open up after a week, you can release her immediately.  If  my assumption is wrong and she was released, look for eggs (don't mess around more than necessary looking for the queen) and hope for the best. 
After another week you could go around looking for her.  BTW, was this new queen marked?

[CpnObvious]

New queen is trapped in cage.  No, she's not marked.  I could always try to, though.  What else could go wrong, lol!  I somehow mis-typed the title of this thread... "Couldn't have gone much worse..."  That alone should tell you how I feel about this process so far!

[efmesch]

If she comes out of this (learning experience) alive, I wouldn't recommend stretching your luck any further.  Don't mark her, unless you are experienced with the process.  Wait for another opportunity.
I remember way back when, the first time I marked a queen, how nervous I was.  I didn't want to hold her too tight, but if she wasn't held tight enough, she would wiggle and get the paint smeared where it shouldn't go.  I don't recall if it was the first or the second queen I marked, but my applicator had too much paint (I hadn't developed the technique of holding the queen in one hand and properly wiping the applicator of too much paint with the other) and the paint smeared from her thorax to her head.  It wasn't long before she was replaced by the girls.