are they doomed ?

[Nige.Coll]

nice day today so i checked my 2 hives for stores and fondant and got a shock.

one hive is thriving bees everywhere and a few out flying around . only worry here is should they be on a double brood .

second hive is well pathetic. no bees flying . no bees taking fondant . looking down the holes in the crown board can't see a cluster or many bees at all.
the colony went into winter ok they have taken 4kg of fondant over winter but now i am concerned that they are going to fail.

don't know what more i could have done for that colony other than have them in the house and make them breakfast and dinner and read them bedtime stories..

this colony has never been as strong as the first but seemed ok after they recovered from a bad reaction to apiguard late august.
varroa drop is minimal treated and monitored before winter. no bee poop in or around the hive .
omf with the board under leaving a gap for ventilation mouse guard fitted no entrance block. board has usual rubbish but no varroa.
queen is a 2013 and was present last inspection and laying well.
hive has insulation above crown board.
i haven't opened them up since september only lifted the roof to look at fondant.
today when i removed the fondant container no bees came out to ask me to leave which i found unusual.

if the queen isn't very good would they have drifted to other hive 3 feet away ?
are they just doomed and no matter what i do or did that wouldn't change ?

i have some pollen patties to put on at the end of feb,would giving them that now help ?
both hives have been treated the exact same way .
i didn't have a torch with me and couldn't look up through the omf and the ground is very muddy tried to take a pic but couldn't see anything.

stumped got no idea whats going on with them..
and i thought beekeeping was going to be a relaxing hobby lol .

 

[Nige.Coll]

i did move the hives in january but they hadn't seemed to cluster when i moved them and did it as carefully as i could.

 

[Swarm]

Regarding the first hive, being in a double brood ain't going to hurt them, my doubles are always left that way for winter and I believe MasterBK overwinters all his colonies like this, as do others.
Second hive, in a single brood? If you can't see them, try with a torch. Personally, I'd leave them alone until temps are just a bit more pleasant and see what is going on then. Not a lot you can do about things at the moment.
You will be surprised how different two colonies within an apiary can be.

 

[enrico]

Not sure you mean if you should be adding another bb now, please don't do that!
Don't give up hope with the others, as long as you have bees that is good enough for now. Still not warm enough for me to be opening hives at 10 degrees!
E

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Not sure you mean if you should be adding another bb now, please don't do that!
Don't give up hope with the others, as long as you have bees that is good enough for now. Still not warm enough for me to be opening hives at 10 degrees!
E

Have a 6 frame nuc in the apiary which 'seems' very quiet a quick peek down the feeder hole whilst putting fondant on didn't reveal one bee - even the old stethoscope was struggling to show life. first bit of sun though and out they came spilling through the entrance and filling the air with bees. Every colony is different, leave them alone until spring.

 

[Nige.Coll]

wasn't planning on adding brood box yet it's too cold