Hive 1 brood. Hive 2 none at all. muddle.

[menteth]

Hello happy people. I am pretty new to this bee lark, and need some advice.
I have 2 hives. Nationals. Both fed for winter. De-mited. Supers off.

Inspection yesterday.
Hive 1 had lots of activity. a fair amount of brood (sealed and eggs and larvae). A fair amount of stores too. In fact it looks like a hive in early summer. Pollen pouring in. Drones about and more being reared. I should point out that they swarmed about 3weeks ago. (And the swarm did not make it). They've been fed lots too.

Hive 2 completely different. Hardly any brood at all. About 15 lonely sealed brood in middle. Thats all. All 12 frames in the brood chamber full of sealed stores. They have been hardly fed at all.

Which one should I be worried about? Why? And how to sort if there is a problem.

(For the life of me, I haven't been able to find a queen in either. Though suspect just missed them).

Thanks very much

 

[Arfermo]

Sounds as though you need to unite but find a bod in your local Association to advise as to whether you have a Q in either first. Drones this time of year is not good. They are not going to do their stuff this time of year and merely gorge on precious stores whilst they lounge about. Normally get chucked out for that reason.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Why are you inspecting in the second half of October?
Leave them alone until April.

 

[menteth]

hi there, only looking; for 2 reasons. firstly, the novice learning (about the cycles) thing. secondly, my bees swarmed at the beginning of october, and to me (though i am a beginner), this seemed odd behaviour for the beginning of winter. So i assumed, they may need help.

when do they finish making babies?

And are both my hives behaving strangely?

I have no idea of the cycle of things yet.
thanks

 

[drex]

Menteth,

I can still remember my enthusiasm for looking at my bees as a beginner. However it might be better to ask yourself why you are looking. Is it for your own benefit or the benefit of your bees? If you decide you are going into the hive, it is better to have a specific purpose.

I can also remember the obsession with queen spotting. You know she was in hive 1 3 days before you inspected and saw eggs, so no worry. Why then specifically try to find her, especially now when it is cold and most of us will have stopped inspections some weeks ago?

Hive 2 has only a few sealed brood. Eggs are eggs for only 3 days, another 5 days and the cells are capped and will remain so until a total of 21 days. Hence you have no evidence of an active queen in there for some time now. Comparing this hive with Hive 1, it is likely to be Q-. How many bees do you have in 2?

Better to take one strong colony ( with plenty of stores) through the winter, than 2 possibly iffy ones.

I would probably unite ( with or without doing a test frame, depending on what I have actually seen in the hives) and then shut them up for the winter, when I would read as much as I could, and if not already done enrol on a local course.

Well done anyway for getting your bees this far. Winter is the real challenge, maximise your chances of success.

 

[oliver90owner]

Just hope that the queen was mated well. Seems to me that they may have superceded and the old queen has left after the supercedure, along with a small number of bees. It can happen. But think of the dates for a swarm in October. Less than three weeks for her to emerge, mate and start laying several days ago (at least three for larvae).

Question may arise : are you sure it was this colony that swarmed?

Strength of colony is one factor to consider before uniting, not just doing it for no better reason than someone suggesting it.

Drone brood at this time of the year is a worry, however. Are you sure the current brood is worker? By all means get an experienced beek to check them out for you and advise 'on the ground'.

The one with little brood could be perfectly normal, but the other seems the greater worry with drone brood at this time of the year. Or both could be in trouble. Just can't tell from here.