Though I attempted to curb my bees from swarming, I believe the inevitable occurred. While two weeks ago when I did a hive inspection, I saw the queen AND a queen cell (which i destroyed), this time, the laying pattern was spotty, there were fewer bees and all signs point to a queenless hive. It really made me regret naively destroying the capped queen cell from two weeks ago! Nevertheless, they created a new one, which is already capped. While I could order a mated queen from a few sellers yet, this is not a hive I was going to overwinter. With that said, it is highly unlikely that I will get any honey this year.
Here is what has happened and is in store for my Queen Bee (read more here):
Egg - Hatches on Day 3
Larva - Day 3 to day 8 1/2
Queen Cell Capped - ~Day 71/2
Pupa - ~Day 8 until emergence
Emergence - ~Day 15 1/2 - Day 17
Mating Flight - ~Day 20-24
Egg Laying - ~Day 23 and up
With all of that time, about 2,000 workers die each day. I am not going to inspect this hive for two weeks or so to let everyone settle in. Should they need more workers, I hope to shake some in from my once weak hive and bolster this group up.