First inspection, no brood or eggs

[Kaz]

I've just done my first inspection, and I have a colony with no brood or eggs. It was a swarm which came in last summer so I have no idea of the history, age of the queen etc but they were a large (and slightly defensive) colony at the end of last season. I didn't see the queen today, there were plenty of fresh stores and my first thought was that they were queenless. But there seemed to be polished cells in the centre of each frame, as if the bees are expecting a queen to start laying. The other colonies in that apiary have 3 or 4 frames of brood. I assume there should be some sign of at least eggs by now, would you unite with one of the other colonies or give it a bit longer? I haven't come across this before.

 

[BigAshW]

Depends how many bees are left?

If there are enough to rear brood then you can give them a frame of eggs and young larvae from another colony (assuming you have one strong enough to donate from).

If they're queen less then they'll draw out emergency cells and try to raise a new queen.

 

[Barbarian]

The behavour of the bees on your inspection can give a clue.
If the bees are moving purposely on the comb, then a Q may be present.
Running agitatedly about the comb may point to Q less.

 

[Kaz]

The behavour of the bees on your inspection can give a clue.
If the bees are moving purposely on the comb, then a Q may be present.
Running agitatedly about the comb may point to Q less.

Thanks barbarian, the bees were very calm, not running around, but they were very "hummy" so slightly mixed messages (or more likely lack of comprehension I'm my part). I've taken BigAshW's advice on a 'nothing to lose' basis, adding a frame of mostly sealed brood but with eggs and young larvae from a larger colony. Either there is a queen and they will now have some emerging nurse bees to look after any brood she starts to lay, or they'll make an emergency queen. Just hoping there are enough drones around this early for her to mate

 

[enrico]

Thanks barbarian, the bees were very calm, not running around, but they were very "hummy" so slightly mixed messages (or more likely lack of comprehension I'm my part). I've taken BigAshW's advice on a 'nothing to lose' basis, adding a frame of mostly sealed brood but with eggs and young larvae from a larger colony. Either there is a queen and they will now have some emerging nurse bees to look after any brood she starts to lay, or they'll make an emergency queen. Just hoping there are enough drones around this early for her to mate

Here's hoping you have some drones in the area then!

 

[Kaz]

Here's hoping you have some drones in the area then!

I have a few colonies with sealed done brood so my optimistic calculation is that by the time a new queen is ready to mate there should be drones around...

 

[Woodland bees]

I'm in a cool part of Devon and half of my hives had drones flying outside yesterday.

 

[E&MBees]

I also have seen a good number of drones flying from my hive.

 

[Ian123]

There’s drones about and drone brood but real limited numbers. I won’t be doing any grafting till the middle of the month and sometimes results can be very mixed.