1st inspection - lots of bees; no brood/eggs; can't see Queen

[rossbyjove]

My first inspection of the year today (my 1 and only hive). Bees have been quite active for a while so far this spring, some pollen going in, so hopes were high. However, I couldn't see a Queen and there was no brood or eggs. An optimist might say the cells looked polished, but I'm not so sure. The bees were very calm and there are some stores .... have I missed the Queen somehow and if so why is she late in laying? If there isn't a Queen then why so many bees? I'm stumped... advice welcomed.

I had a virgin queen through the winter and very late to get started.
Same thing with this colony last year , thought there was no queen.
Bought a Buckfast queen.
The queen I thought was not there was and killed my Buckfast.
Verty lazy queens from that hive, unproductive.
She knew she was for the fence post and evaded capture every time.
She did the job for me and the colony died out this winter.
Have another colony from a swarm last year and the difference is astounding.
Hang on a few weeks would be my newbie advice.

 

[Dolcoath]

Hopefully she'll lay soon. I reckon she will. Can you please let us know what happens.... in due course?

As I suspected, no queen, dwindling no of bees.... finito!
That's me done with beekeeping

 

[Erichalfbee]

That's me done with beekeeping

That’s shame. Beekeeping isn’t for everybody
Maybe you could sleep on it.

 

[Garry R]

As I suspected, no queen, dwindling no of bees.... finito!
That's me done with beekeeping

As a last shot. You have the hive, you have the used comb' The ingredients are there for a bait hive so I would set that up and keep an eye on it and be ready to take the appropriate action if you hit lucky. If they are local they might be well adapted to the area. Good luck.

 

[Do224]

As I suspected, no queen, dwindling no of bees.... finito!
That's me done with beekeeping

Put some swarm traps up. It’s much less demoralising when it goes wrong if you haven’t paid a fortune for your bees

 

[Redcap]

As I suspected, no queen, dwindling no of bees.... finito!
That's me done with beekeeping

Stick with it....we all have disappointments. It's a marathon not a sprint, every year a new challenge; learn from the things that went badly yesterday and try and improve on it tomorrow...it's a fascinating craft, and the collective knowledge from so many on here will help...get a new queen in and go for it !

 

[Antipodes]

As I suspected, no queen

Thanks for getting back about it.
Being right about something like that is perhaps a good reason to keep going, not to give up. You probably have good beekeeping intuition.

 

[B_north]

As I suspected, no queen, dwindling no of bees.... finito!
That's me done with beekeeping

I lost a hive to queen failure at the end of winter last year. Too early to get the new queen mated, and to early to buy one in. But I had 4 hives which allowed me to re stock that hive when it died, your one hive is a thin thread on which to rely.

I hope you don't chuck it all in on the basis of a loss that you could not avoid and cannot rectify at this time of the year.

 

[Darryl]

As I suspected, no queen, dwindling no of bees.... finito!
That's me done with beekeeping

Hang in there and keep checking for eggs etc. I have an identical scenario with one of my hives. My queen's are notoriously sneaky and accomplished "hiders". If you are queenless and don't want to invest in a new nuc, why not bait your hive and hope for a swarm?