Is it too late for new queen from supercedure cells?

[Laurie]

Three weeks ago I checked my hive - one brood box ~80% full, from a new NUC earlier this year - and there was lots of activity. I never found the queen but I did find open larval cells. I didn't see any eggs, but I've had trouble finding them anyhow. Overall, it looked pretty good.

Over the last 10 days, there didn't seem to be as much coming and going activity as I thought there should be, and no bearding in the hot weather. So, today I checked again. I thought maybe I needed to start feeding them. I couldn't find the queen, and no larval cells. It seemed the ladies were filling every possible cell in all the frames with honey. There were a few cells that looked like pollen, but they were erratically placed in the frames. I did find about 6-7 supercedure cells, about 3 open and the rest still closed.

Is it possible for them to be trying to make a new queen this late in the season? Is there any reason to think it would be successful?

Any suggestions as to what I could do to help the colony be successful?

Thanks.

--Laurie

[drew]

Superseder can happen at anytime.
If there open queen cells, nothing but sit and wait. There are still drones around for mating, but there days are numbered.
Ride it out and see what happens. If you try and re-queen now, it will be difficult to have them accept a queen at this time of year...

[Laurie]

Thanks, Drew (and Alden).

I just saw the 2nd orientation dance since I thought I had lost my queen, so it looks like it's all good. Glad I waited instead of interceding.

--Laurie