Might have just buggered it up

Yesterday’s hive inspection threw me a bit. Very strong colony, over the past few weeks seen a few play cups but nothing else. One super already on and I was fully expecting to need a second. Went through all the frames really carefully, finding eggs, brood in all stages all looking good. Then I see a charged queen cell and pinch it out. So far, nothing particularly unexpected but obviously I need to take note.

Over the next few frames more eggs and more queen cells, and inexperienced beekeeper I am, I take down every QC I see, including the sealed ones. But I don’t find her majesty, plenty of eggs across 4 frames but I’m assuming she’s hiding. The hive is full, no evidence that a swarm has happened but I might have just unintentionally left myself queenless. I added the super and then have basically stressed overnight.

I’m going to do an artificial swarm today and examine the current hive minutely for my queen. Let’s hope I caught her just before she did a bunk. If not, will they make an emergency cell? They’re clearly in the mood to do so. There is