At last I have found a queen in Willow's hive. In the top brood box there were plenty of eggs but on one of the middle frames was a queen cell in the early stages of production so I took that frame out. In the bottom brood box was a fully formed queen cell with a hole in it's side. So what was going on in this hive? That is the sign of a queen destroyed by another queen. Once I got about three frames from the far edge of the bottom box I found a queen. An unmarked new queen. So Willow had been superceded. That explains why the bees are now better natured and why there was a break in honey production earlier on. It doesn't explain why I have always found eggs in the brood box. Initially I took the frame with the new queen out of the hive but changed my mind and put her back in the bottom brood box. And I put back the frame with the queen cell in production in the top brood box but I then removed that box and put it on it's own floor a few feet away from the hive. The bees that don't fly back to Willow's old hive can bring up a new queen in that hive. The question now is are the bees going to be happy with their new queen or are they still going to make queen cells.
There is also the brood box next to Willow's old hive that I put queen cells in before that had bees coming and going to it.
George's bees are getting the queen to lay in queen cups. I destroyed most but left one on one frame that I put into a nuc box with another frame of bees. They can proceed with making a queen cell with it if they wish but I want the bees in George's hive to make some honey.
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