Possible Queenless Hive?

[wildthingsfarm]

I opened my hive today and in the top box I found nice capped comb, filled with honey. I didn't find any brood in the frames. We are just starting in on our second year keeping bees, so I still feel like I don't know what I am doing. I have two deep boxes and one smaller one on top and there was no excluder. I took the top box off to check the lower boxes, but the bees were getting agitated (and I was getting nervous!), so I am not sure if there was brood down there or not. Does it sound like I have lost my queen? If I have, what are the odds that the hive will make their own queen?

 

[babsbag]

I seldom see brood in the top honey super, that is the way we all like to see it. You really have to go deeper and inspect all of the boxes. There is just no way to know without looking in the entire hive.
Mine are usually in the top of the two deep boxes and sometimes in the bottom. I switch the boxes around come spring and put the brood back on the bottom, but the queen usually starts laying in the top deep again. Mine seem to like it there more than the bottom deep.
Don't panic until you are certain there is no brood in the bottom.

 

[Latestarter]

Ummmm you'll need to get past your nervousness and do a thorough inspection. Otherwise, there's no real way of knowing. You'll need to pull some frames in the lower box and make sure there's uncapped brood, larva and eggs to ensure there's a queen.

Babs was typing as I was and basically said what I was saying. Good luck and hope you find some positive news.