Checking on Splits again and again!

I started my original splits on March 14^th.  Hive #2 is still not Queen Right.  I am starting to get a little worried.  The last time that I went into the hives was on 4/20.  At that time I did find queen cells on bar #3 and #6.  I added another bar of eggs and brood at that time.  Yesterday when I went in to check, I still didn’t see any signs of a laying queen.  Sometimes I have difficulty as a new beekeeper seeing the eggs.  I don’t know if it is just that I have old eyes, or if it truly can be difficult to see them sometimes.  I haven’t figured out whether I see them better with my contact lenses or glasses.  If I can’t see them I usually can see different stages of brood and larvae.  I do know that there were no signs of any eggs, larvae or brood.  The Queen cells were open on #3 and the bees were busy cleaning them out.  The bar that I put in on 4/20 didn’t have any signs of queen cells. 

 I called a mentor that I discovered on one of the beekeeping forums.  She is out in Santa Fe, NM.  Kate has been a great help to me.  There is a very large TBH beekeeping population in NM.  I wish there was one here in Miami.  Les Crowder is one of the experts in TBH beekeeping.  He is well known in the beekeeping community, especially TBH beekeeping.  He gives many classes, and lectures around TBH beekeeping.  He is in the process of writing a book on the subject.  I cannot wait until it is published to have as a reference.  I am going out to New Mexico on May 18-21^st to take one of the certification classes that Les Crowder offers.  His website is www.fortheloveofbees.com.  I cannot wait to travel out there.  I have never been to that part of the country.  The pictures on the internet look so beautiful.  I am hoping that I learn a lot. 

 I spoke to Kate after I went into the hives. She helped me understand what might be going on in my hive.  The weather could definitely be a factor in my queen less hive.  It has been raining frequently here in Miami.  In fact, the last two weekends in Miami have been very wet.  Earlier in the week I was worried about my new queen as it was rainy from Saturday through Wednesday.  I was wishing it would stop raining as I knew I had a queen wanting to go on her Virgin flight.  It has been approximately 28-30 days since I added the eggs and brood to the hive.  Maybe with the weather being so rainy it delayed her being able to take her virgin flight.  Kate said it might just be early and hopefully when I go back into the hive next weekend I will find a laying queen.  Another positive sign is that I didn’t see any more queen cells being made and the bees looked good and busy.  She also told me to look for areas that the bees are cleaning out in preparation for the queen to start laying.  I didn’t know to look for that but I did see the bees busy in the old queen cells.  So we will see what happens next.  The rest of the hives looked good.  The growth was slower than normal but the weather has been very rainy.  I was able to harvest a little more honey, which is always a nice bonus.  I did add one more bar of mostly eggs and some capped brood to hive #2.  If there are queen cells next week then I know I am still not Queen Right.