Went into the hives again last night...mostly to see if they were doing anything in the second hive body recently added as well as to try once more to find that queen. I was about half way through the hive with the "missing" queen when a beekeeper friend showed up to offer assistance. Right away he told me it was evident I had a queen. He was able to tell that by the abundance of WORKER BROOD present. As I have said and have known all along, a laying worker will only lay DRONE brood... I apparently had forgotten that drone brood cells are actually noticeably larger than worker brood cells. This was very apparent when I compared the cells on the green drone frame with the cells present elsewhere in the hive.
Anyhow, it was not long after he told me this that we both spotted the queen doing her thing. Bill also gave me a tip that you likely won't find the queen on frames that are full of capped brood...she's already done her work on those frames and has likely moved on. Sure enough, she was on a frame with open drawn out cells and was probably busy laying eggs! I do feel much better now that I have found her...but realize I was full of worry for no reason. I should have known all along that I had a queen and not a laying worker.
As for the second hive bodies, one hive and just begun drawing comb on one of the frames. It was definitely early for me to put them on...hopefully the bees won't have too much trouble keeping the hive at the right temperature. Debated whether or not to remove them for now...but decided to keep them on as I'll be away for nearly a week...and the weather is supposed to be quite nice during that time.
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