Eggs not appearing to develop

[Curley]

Has anyone seen anything like this and know the reason?

Three weeks ago inspected a hive not looked at for a while for various reasons
Store and pollen aplenty, room for the queen to lay. Didn't see queen but there were three frames of eggs at various ages - no larvae no capped brood. thought - she's gone off lay and started again or they have superceded, or they have swarmed and produced a new queen. Whichever way things beginning to pick up.
Left them alone for two weeks as saw little chance of swarming.
Inspected last week. Same situation, fewer bees I thought. Stores, pollen a plenty, everyone busy, three frames of eggs - no larvae and no capped brood.
Weird. Then the queen wandered into view and she was marked (pink - my colour of choice). SO no swarm and no supercedure.
Checked again yesterday - same status except possibly one or two v small larvae in worker cells but with a much more than normal smear of royal jelly.

Anyone have any knowledge of what could be going on?

Thanks

Curley

 

[Fritillary]

Are there enough bees in there to keep brood warm do you think?

 

[eltalia]

I'd suggest this question is in need of support photos.
Some high resolution of a patch of cells and some showing
alternate sides of the same frame in panarama view.

Bill

 

[Anduril]

Are there enough bees in there to keep brood warm do you think?

You say the numbers are decreasing. How many frames of bees?

 

[B+.]

Anyone have any knowledge of what could be going on?

If the queen mated with closely related drones, it is possible that the female progeny are inbred, so the workers remove the eggs. The queen would then lay them up again so all you see is eggs.
Usually, this isn't an all-or-nothing thing and you will see some developing brood because the queen mates with multiple drones. Have you had bad weather recently that would prevent a queen from going on a proper mating flight?

 

[Fritillary]

If the queen mated with closely related drones, it is possible that the female progeny are inbred, so the workers remove the eggs. The queen would then lay them up again so all you see is eggs.
Usually, this isn't an all-or-nothing thing and you will see some developing brood because the queen mates with multiple drones. Have you had bad weather recently that would prevent a queen from going on a proper mating flight?

Interesting - think that may have been what happened with one of mine. In the end there was a supersedure.

 

[Curley]

Thanks for the responses

The frames of eggs are just that - a frame of nicely drawn wax with eggs.
I hope we can all visualise a frame of eggs as my grasp of technology is not what it might be- sorry Bill.
3 frames of eggs - about 2/3 of each side laid up. Good pattern - no gaps.
Something in the order of 6 larvae to a side, scattered, at different sizes 2- 4 days after hatching , C shaped segmented pearly white and generous Royal Jelly. I did think EFB at one point, seeing what looked like a slumped larvae but turned out to be a v small larvae on a bath of royal jelly. I'm guessing frustrated nurse bees are feeding everything in sight (all 30 of them).
Last years queen. (Marked pink) who headed a successful colony last year
5-6 frames of bees - not densely packed though plus a good few in the super - insulated roof. Temperatures have been ok recently. Would expect to see a patch of brood developing in the middle if insufficient bees, but maybe not.
Tempted to make up a queenless nuc with bees from another colony - pop one of the frames of eggs, with no bees attached from funny one and see what happens. Its not a big colony(now) so no great loss if they fizzle out - just seems strange and I want to be as sure as I can its nothing sinister - just odd. Thanks again for contributions.

 

[B+.]

Thanks for the responses

You could try taking a frame of eggs from it and transferring them into another colony...just to see if they are raised normally. Also, take a frame of eggs from another colony and transfer them into this colony.

 

[Poly Hive]

And after that kill the queen causing the problem and introduce one that does the job.

PH

 

[polomadh]

Yes, I had this a season or so ago in a hive for a new beekeeper I was mentoring. It was really odd, great laying pattern of lots of eggs, but nothing more, there was never any larvae or capped brood. If I recall correctly we culled the queen and combined the bees with another hive, and things sorted themselves out. I presumed the queen had mated 100% with her own drones, so the eggs were eat by the workers.

 

[Curley]

Thanks for the responses - most appreciated. I think as it seems healthy apart from this weirdness - I will cull Queenie and combine.
Cheers D.