Colony overwintered but no new brood.

[Graymich]

"No varroa" should read: "no visible varroa".

I feed colonies like this with thymolised syrup to prevent mould in the syrup.

Yes I should have said they dont appear to have varroa

 

[Graymich]

ypu're confusing two ailments there I think - Nosema and CBPV
And there are two different strains of each, but as far as Nosema goes - Nosema Ceranae doesn't show any physical symptoms such as dysentery

Ah - So are you saying I cant tell just by looking - any further thoughts/recommendations

 

[drex]

Mites are usually only visible when the infection is heavy. Only reliable diagnosis of nosema is with a microscope.
I was in your situation a couple of days ago. As it was the only colony where HM was not laying I decided to squash her and unite .

 

[Graymich]

Don't need to wait ten days, you'll know within a few days if they produce a supersedure cell, although with a queen present the odds are against them trying.

You were right - the queen hasnt laid - the new frame of brood I added has mostly emerged - they look to be thriving in that all frames drawn and most covered in honey and pollen and lots of bees but no new brood , only a few drone cells - no queen cells. I have now caged and removed the queen.
Should I transfer another frame of brood with eggs ( if I can see any ) - I have plenty in my other 2 hives and I could transfer a queen cell too as 1 of my other hives is preparing to swarm - however I couldnt find the queen in that hive

Any advise appreciated

Thanks.

 

[Graymich]

I decided to transfer another frame of capped brood with larva and a capped queen cell.
I am hoping that now that the non laying queen is gone and that they are queenless, they will raise a queen cell of their own or accept the one I have donated them.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I decided to transfer another frame of capped brood with larva and a capped queen cell.
I am hoping that now that the non laying queen is gone and that they are queenless, they will raise a queen cell of their own or accept the one I have donated them.

Let us know how it goes. Fingers crossed

 

[Graymich]

Let us know how it goes. Fingers crossed

Well its now 4 weeks since I removed the old queen and transferred 2 frames of brood and 1 queen cell. All the brood has long since emerged - no sign of a queen or new brood but lots of bees and no drone laying. Perhaps I should have delayed transferring the brood frames till a few days after despatching the queen.
I have one of my own caught swarms on 6x 14x12 frames with 4 full frames of brood and bursting to move out of their nuc. Could I combine it with the Queenless hive using newspaper between the brood boxes resulting in a double 14x12 bb.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Well its now 4 weeks since I removed the old queen and transferred 2 frames of brood and 1 queen cell. All the brood has long since emerged - no sign of a queen or new brood but lots of bees and no drone laying. Perhaps I should have delayed transferring the brood frames till a few days after despatching the queen.
I have one of my own caught swarms on 6x 14x12 frames with 4 full frames of brood and bursting to move out of their nuc. Could I combine it with the Queenless hive using newspaper between the brood boxes resulting in a double 14x12 bb.

Test frame first