No sign yet of laying queen

Hive #2 is still not showing signs of a laying queen.  I went through both boxes frame by frame and found no queen and no eggs/larva.  The eggs from which a new queen was developed would have her at about 22 to 23 days old now, having emerged probably a week ago.  Doing more reading, however, I read that a number of beekeepers, having placed a queen cell in a hive with hours to go until emergence, may not check for a laying queen for 15 days.  So, I will check again in about a week and see if there is anything.  If not, I will order 2 MN hygenic queens and put one in the nuc and one in this colony.

I had not seen any pollen coming into the hive so I suspected there was not a laying queen.  However, the bees have brought in a lot of nectar so I will have to monitor that closely.

On another blog, I found a link to this short, 2 minute  video.

 A beekeeper, Steve Ellis, who also works out of California, is joining several other beekeepers and organizations in filing a suit against the EPA to put a suspension on the use of neonicotinoids on seeds.  If what he shows in his video is accurate in his accusations, the effect on the bees is pretty dramatic and is worth viewing.