first inspection no brood or eggs

[Weeze]

I need some advice
It hit 12c today so i did my first inspection there were lots of bees bringing in various colours of pollen.
4 frames full with honey stores with the remainder of frames covered with bees, pollen and stores in the corners however no brood or eggs. I dont have the queen marked. there was no diseases and the bees looked strong and healthy. They were not aggressive either.
I feed them with 1:1 syrup.

What should I do now? Wait or arrange to get a new queen?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I need some advice
It hit 12c today so i did my first inspection there were lots of bees bringing in various colours of pollen.
4 frames full with honey stores with the remainder of frames with pollen and stores in the corners however no brood or eggs. I dont have the queen marked. there was no diseases and the bees looked strong and healthy. They were not aggressive either.
I feed them with 1:1 syrup.

What should I do now? Wait or arrange to get a new queen?

Did you see the queen?

 

[dpearce4]

due to the weather over the last month you may find that the queen has been off lay.

I think the queen will have thought that the last month has been January.

I opened all of mine today and found very little in the way of brood in most, there were one or two that had patches of capped brood and most had eggs. but very little in the way of brood at all. Mind you the last month of sub 3c temps I would have stopped laying if I were the queen to.

I am hopeful that over the next few days as long as it stays above 5c at night there should be brood in all the hives by next weekend.

 

[Weeze]

no i didn't see her . i don't have her marked and didn't want to spend a lot of time looking for her so early in the year. she was present and laying the last time we looked which was in December

 

[Dishmop]

The are only eggs in my obs hive but the queen has been laying for two weeks to my knowledge.

I assume the same situation will apply to the outside hives.

I am always rather suprised when people say that they have got eggs and brood in January when they have done their OA treatment.
Thoughs are that they wont raise new brood if looks as if there will not be enought to feed them on. Last year at this time there was brood but there was also a lot better weather for a time, but when it went cold again, she stopped laying and they ate all the stores they had collected.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

no i didn't see her . i don't have her marked and didn't want to spend a lot of time looking for her so early in the year. she was present and laying the last time we looked which was in December

Sensible - it's still a bit cold to be opening up frames - wait a while and see what develops as dpearce said, it's been so cold the queen may have gone off lay again

 

[beeno]

Hi Weeze,
Give the girl a break if she was laying in December. It all sounds good and if you are anything like me you may have missed the eggs and find capped brood next time you look!

 

[enrico]

Hi Weeze,
Give the girl a break if she was laying in December. It all sounds good and if you are anything like me you may have missed the eggs and find capped brood next time you look!

As simple as that!

 

[itma]

...
4 frames full with honey stores with the remainder of frames covered with bees, pollen and stores in the corners however no brood or eggs. ...
I feed them with 1:1 syrup.

Wait and see regarding the queen.
Meanwhile hope, and carry on as though she has just been taking time off.
Expect to see some brood by next week. And hopefully not drone brood.



Meantime, don't feed *much*.
You have plenty stores.
But soon enough, the bees should (hopefully) be wanting that comb space for brood. Be careful to avoid feeding them into restricted brood space. That way lies swarming.
You could provide a still weaker syrup (like 1 sugar to 2 water) for the next fill, so they have plenty water, but no excess income of sugar.

 

[adrian wilford]

pollen coming in, is the best sign you can expect for at this crap time. leave well alone for a couple of weeks we should all see some improvements!!!

 

[Weeze]

Thanks so much for all your replies and advice.. I will take a look in about 2 weeks time to see if there is any progress.

 

[enrico]

If its warm enough....12 degrees is still cool to be opening hive for full inspection! IMHO
E

 

[itma]

If its warm enough....12 degrees is still cool to be opening hive for full inspection! IMHO
E

Chilled brood won't thrive as well as unchilled.

However, if there is no brood ... you can't chill it!

 

[protheroe]

some of my hives are just starting to lay and the best only have 2 frames of larvae

 

[Susan1]

Had a look at hives today. BOTH had lots of activity and bringing in pollen. However I refuse to open up for inspection yet. If the weather is nice next week I will have first inspection. Would love to gather up some bees to send away to check for disease but am not going to disturb them just yet.

 

[oliver90owner]

Wait or arrange to get a new queen?

No contest. Of the two options - wait is the only sensible one for more than one reason (I can think of three without even trying).

 

[itma]

... Would love to gather up some bees to send away to check for disease but am not going to disturb them just yet.

You don't need to open the hive to do that.
It is actually best to obtain a sample of older bees - foragers.

When the bees are flying for foraging (avoid peak orientation flight occasions), close up the entrance so the bees can't get in. Wait a few minutes and you will have lots of bees trying to get back inside.
Take your sample from those returning foragers.
And don't forget to reopen the hive entrance!

 

[Susan1]

Thank you for the tip. Will do this on Friday when I am off. Would love to get a clean bill of health before the season starts. I have lots of dead bees in front of both hives but hope its just the winter bees being thrown out now. There are quite a few on the floors.

 

[Chorlton Honey Bees]

we need to not go in until it gets warmer lost heat and stress for the girls remember we could do more harm than good
be patient

 

[Chorlton Honey Bees]

iagree: we need to not go in until it gets warmer lost heat and stress for the girls remember we could do more harm than good
be patient