Is my hive doomed?

[bpmurray]

I have 3 hives, 2 of which are healthy with good stores bot only a tiny bit of brood. The third hive has not had brood for weeks, and I don't have enough in the other hives to provide a test frame. While it would make sense to unite the weaker hive with one of the others, I'm concerned that it's just a question of a queen who isn't laying, which could spell disaster for the healthy hive.

As I see it, if I unite, the best case is that I'll have two hives, one of which is a little stronger and worst case is that I have a dead queen (or even two!) and perhaps onl one hive after winter. If I leave things as they are, I'll have the two healthy hives and that weak one will die off.

So I've almost convinced myself to just leave them do their thing and hope for the best, but I wonder if there's a better way.

 

[Hivemaker.]

I have 3 hives, 2 of which are healthy with good stores bot only a tiny bit of brood.

Are there eggs and very small larvae among this brood.

 

[Eyeman]

Hi
Either
Donate a frame with eggs with eggs/young larvae with can be returned to her donor hive as soon as QCs seen or after 5 days if no QC
Or cut a small circle of the comb containing eggs / young larvae using a 2" diameter pastry cutter and cut similar hole in a comb in the hive without brood and push the circle into the hole.

 

[bpmurray]

Are there eggs and very small larvae among this brood.

Yes, there's BIAS, although mostly sealed.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Yes, there's BIAS, although mostly sealed.

Then as post three.

 

[bpmurray]

Hi
Either
Donate a frame with eggs with eggs/young larvae with can be returned to her donor hive as soon as QCs seen or after 5 days if no QC
Or cut a small circle of the comb containing eggs / young larvae using a 2" diameter pastry cutter and cut similar hole in a comb in the hive without brood and push the circle into the hole.

I did the cookie-cutter thing & hopefully it went OK. I suppose I'll find out on Sat.

 

[Eyeman]

Best of luck.
I've used this method a few times.

 

[Tomo]

Hi BPMurray, just to clarify: when referring to B.I.A.S. it means "brood in all stages" i.e. "eggs", larvae (or grubs as my Mrs calls them) and sealed (or capped) brood. I am sure some people new to this game omit the eggs part of BIAS which can lead to misunderstanding. Good luck with the cookie cutter trick, new one to me.

 

[bpmurray]

Hi BPMurray, just to clarify: when referring to B.I.A.S. it means "brood in all stages" i.e. "eggs", larvae (or grubs as my Mrs calls them) and sealed (or capped) brood. I am sure some people new to this game omit the eggs part of BIAS which can lead to misunderstanding. Good luck with the cookie cutter trick, new one to me.

Thanks Tomo - that's how I understood it, but it's good to have it confirmed.

 

[Torq]

If you have capped brood and eggs but no larvae, inspect 3 days later. If there are no larvae then what you have seen previously is dead eggs that have not been removed by the workers, and most likely a non laying or absent queen.

 

[bpmurray]

I had a look while the sun was shining this afternoon, and the cells in the imported circle of wax are all empty! Now I'm completely confused. Does this mean that the bees just don't want any brood? Or that the brood circle was chilled and they just cleaned it out (I was careful to keep it warm but I suppose it's possible I didn't keep it warm enough).