Queenless
Lexikon
A bee colony that no longer has a queen is called queenless.
A bee colony that no longer has a queen is called queenless. Since the queen is the only female in the colony capable of reproduction, a permanently queenless colony cannot survive without the beekeeper intervening. Causes of the loss include, among others, age, disease, bad weather during the mating flight, or a mistake by the beekeeper while working the colony.
Early signs of queenlessness are the absence of fresh eggs and young, open brood, as well as a restless, louder buzzing of the colony. If the condition persists for a longer time and young brood, from which the colony could raise itself a supersedure cell, is also lacking, individual workers sometimes begin laying eggs themselves, which produce only drones. The colony is then considered hopelessly queenless, because it can no longer procure a new queen on its own.
For beekeepers, a queenless colony means the need for prompt action: if young brood is still present, the colony can be given a comb with eggs from another colony so it can raise itself a queen, or a new, mated queen can be introduced deliberately. If humped brood is already present, uniting with a strong, queenright colony is usually the only remaining option, since directly introducing a queen then often fails.