Bees reducing in number

[Dookie]

Hi

I have 3 hives at the moment on one site 2 are doing really well, however every time i go and check them one of them seems to have fewer and fewer bees in each time. I can't see any eggs, i can't find a queen. What would be my best course of action to get it back to normal?

 

[beesbeesbees]

Well if they don't have laying workers(which because there are no eggs it sounds like there is no laying workers) you can test if they're queen less by putting a frame of eggs in from one of you other hives, if they draw queencells from the eggs then they are queenless, do not let these queen cells go to completion though because they will raise a rubbish queen from them. If they are queenless then you can buy/get a queen or use a cell punch to raise a new queen from another hive.

 

[Fatbee]

Could be many reasons: The colony could be issuing out cast swarms; or you may have a disease problem like Varoaa affecting it for example; or the colony may have become queen less and so new bees are not being bred.

If you can't see any eggs sounds like there is no laying queen in there - likely to have swarmed. When did you last see eggs? You could put a test frame in to see what they do with it - if they raise emergency queen cells there is an answer; if they don't you may have a virgin in there waiting to come in to lay.

So a bit more info would be helpful on the situation and timings etc

 

[Beefriendly]

if they draw queencells from the eggs then they are queenless, do not let these queen cells go to completion though because they will raise a rubbish queen from them.

2 of my hives with rubbish "emergency" queens from last year have, between them, just brought in over 200lbs of rape honey this spring. Dread to think what a good queen would have done

 

[Uncle Betty]

Well if they don't have laying workers(which because there are no eggs it sounds like there is no laying workers) you can test if they're queen less by putting a frame of eggs in from one of you other hives, if they draw queencells from the eggs then they are queenless, do not let these queen cells go to completion though because they will raise a rubbish queen from them. If they are queenless then you can buy/get a queen or use a cell punch to raise a new queen from another hive.

I don't see why the first option would produce a worse queen than the second, all else being equal ?

 

[colinc]

A colony with no laying queen will have less nurse bees (and a higher ratio of foragers) to raise a well fed queen, punching a capped cell, the work has already been done by another colony with lots of nurse bees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[colinc]

Sorry. "Fewer" nurse bees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[beesbeesbees]

Yes, also the bees sometimes select the wrong age larvae causing an inferior queen.

 

[Erichalfbee]

There is a world of difference between emergency queens reared by a thriving hive well populated with nurse bees and a queen reared from a test frame by aging foragers

 

[Beefriendly]

There is a world of difference between emergency queens reared by a thriving hive well populated with nurse bees and a queen reared from a test frame by aging foragers

Very well put.

 

[Uncle Betty]

A colony with no laying queen will have less nurse bees (and a higher ratio of foragers) to raise a well fed queen, punching a capped cell, the work has already been done by another colony with lots of nurse bees.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I've never tried the method, but what I've read and YouTube'd all seems to be about punching out uncapped larvae.

My limited experience is that giving them capped cells is no guarantee of anything *

* edit - And the reason for that could be related to EricHB's point, which i've just seen now.