I came across a split recently where the colony had already swarmed and I found a virgin queen along with at least 10 more unhatched queen cells.
I split the hive again (super strong), one with the virgin queen and the other with the queen cells.
What’s the chance that the virgin queen had already stung and killed the unhatched queen cells? (She was making her glorious tooting sounds). Is there a way you can tell if she has?
If the cells are not damaged then you are pretty safe. But you will know for sure in a couple of weeks. If that split fails you could buy a queen, take a frame with eggs out of your other hive or just merge it back to your other hive.
Cheers
Rob.
Thanks Rob! Yep, I was wondering if the damage was discrete or not. Time will tell but the cells looked pretty perfect.
As Rob says, the cardinal sign is damage in the middle of or near the base of the cell. The queen normally chews a small hole away from the head of the enclosed queen and then stings through that hole. It may just be a small hole - a couple of mm is enough. Once the pupating queen inside dies, the workers will tear down the cell and dispose of the queen
Many thanks brains trust 
