Eggs not hatching

[beeboy55]

Swarm caught. Queen seen. No eggs for about 2 weeks. Then plenty of eggs. The problem is they are just not hatching. I have monitored them for over 10 days and they seem in pristine condition. Only one egg in each cell. I have searched the web and cannot find reports of this happening. Anyone got any ideas and suggestions on what to do?

 

[Hachi]

are they still eggs not lavae?

 

[beeboy55]

Definitely eggs. Perfect shape in a dry cell. Queen moving well on comb.

 

[Beefriendly]

Small swarm? can't keep up with queens laying so not warm enough to hatch. Are there any larvae in the frames?

 

[pargyle]

Small swarm? can't keep up with queens laying so not warm enough to hatch. Are there any larvae in the frames?

Yeh ,... that's where my money would be ... What sort of a box are they in .. how big a swarm ... how many frames ... what's the weather been like up there in Llanwrst ... all factors in how the swarm can manage the eggs being laid. Egss are the most vulnerable when temperature can't be maintained in the hive at about 35 degrees where the eggs are.

If it is likely this .. solution - smaller box or dummy down to a few frames and add insulation to hive.

 

[beeboy55]

Average size swarm in a poly nuc both. They have drawn out all the foundation and have a good amount of stores at top of frames so this gives an idea that they are not too small for the box. Not a single egg has hatched. Not 1 instance of larva in the box. The weather here has been good during last week. Though today and tomorrow does not look too good.

 

[enrico]

Never heard of it before, I should think a biologist might be interested in dissecting your queen to find out a possible cause.
E

 

[charlievictorbravo]

I've never heard of this happening before. We'd have to assume that the queen was laying normally before the swarm event or there would not have been a swarm. Is it possible that the mix of bees in the swarm is not normal so it has ended up with lots of foragers and few nurse bees? You could try one of Finnie's hive heaters (terrarium heater) if you have access to electricity at the apiary. The extra heat might get some of the eggs to develop into larvae.

If that does not work then giving them a frame of brood might help because the bees must know something is wrong and will want to produce a replacement queen.

 

[polomadh]

I have had someone saying the same thing, lots of eggs, but nothing hatching in the last 10 days. I am going to take a look later this week, so I will let you know what I see. If you can do the same I would appreciate it. My money is on the weather being a bit rubbish, and them not maintaining temps

 

[beeboy55]

Thanks for the responses.

I believe she was a virgin queen on arrival. Hence the delay in starting to lay.
I think that even with an imbalanced colony and even if it was much smaller than it is, some of the eggs would have hatched and been fed. What seems to be happening is that the queen is laying dead eggs. The only other explanation I can think of is for some strange reason the queen is laying normally and the workers are removing the eggs within a 2 day window. However, this would be equally as strange an event as the dead eggs idea.

When the weather improves on Wednesday I will check again and if the same take some photos.

 

[Millet]

I've never heard of this happening before. We'd have to assume that the queen was laying normally before the swarm event or there would not have been a swarm. Is it possible that the mix of bees in the swarm is not normal so it has ended up with lots of foragers and few nurse bees? You could try one of Finnie's hive heaters (terrarium heater) if you have access to electricity at the apiary. The extra heat might get some of the eggs to develop into larvae.

If that does not work then giving them a frame of brood might help because the bees must know something is wrong and will want to produce a replacement queen.

That should make no difference as bees can change roles to suit there needs, i was watching something about bee biology the other day and it was quite interesting, foragers can revert back to nurse bees.

 

[roche]

If you can, it may be interesting to put a test frame of brood from another colony into this one - if the queen is dodgy, they might supercede.

 

[ladaok]

are they bringing in pollen ? should be truck loads if they are serious about raising brood....
I understand that bees will devour the young b4 capping if there is a dearth of pollen ( protein ).... eggs = protein

 

[Finman]

.
Do not waste your time with photos. Buy a new queen.

Never met such case that hives has mere eggs .
.

 

[oliver90owner]

I agree with Finny. Queen is most likely genetically defective.

But requeening might not be sensible - uniting a weak colony would be my choice. Why waste more time, energy or money and increase the risk of wasp attack in a months time, or so?

As I see it, weak nucs are entirely the fault of the beekeeper in the first place.

RAB

 

[beeno]

Hi beeboy55,
You are the third person this has happened to on the forum. I gave mine 10 days big tall Darren (I think it was) gave his all summer just to see what happened - nothing they just dwindled. Queen genetics me thinks.

 

[colinc]

I agree with Finny. Queen is most likely genetically defective.

But requeening might not be sensible - uniting a weak colony would be my choice. Why waste more time, energy or money and increase the risk of wasp attack in a months time, or so?

As I see it, weak nucs are entirely the fault of the beekeeper in the first place.

RAB

Not a nuc, a caught swarm.

Genetically defective queen but that is the fault of the beekeeper?

Congratulations again.


Read the post maybe?


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[Erichalfbee]

Not a nuc, a caught swarm.

Genetically defective queen but that is the fault of the beekeeper?

Congratulations again.


Read the post maybe?


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Calm calm
RAB's advice maybe abrupt but always sound. He's got me out of many a self dug hole over the years.
He didn't actually say a genetically defective queen was down to the beekeeper but that in general weak nucs were.

 

[colinc]

Calm calm

RAB's advice maybe abrupt but always sound. He's got me out of many a self dug hole over the years.

He didn't actually say a genetically defective queen was down to the beekeeper but that in general weak nucs were.

My point was this isn't a nuc it's a caught swarm. All of the above was irrelevant and harsh. Especially from an "old hand" to someone asking for advice.



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[colinc]

Just seen the reply on the Propolis thread. Seems like RAB is trying to take Finnies place as the "forum ogre". Just because people are experienced and knowledgable doesn't mean they have to try to "one-up" everyone else. This is after all a "social" media platform.
Off topic so I will be on my way now. Hope the OP gets the advice he needs here.


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