Is my queen failing?

[Mrs Webmuppet]

My daughter and I checked our hive today and we are worried the our queen is failing.....last week we had almost 4frames of brood (I should say that it's a nucleus we were given at the end of April) this week we have 3 frames of brood. We also noticed we have no drones or drone brood. There were a few eggs and larvae but no where near what we had last week. The queen hatched last year.

We have texted our mentor but he hasn't got back to us yet.

 

[enrico]

Personally I wouldn't worry too much yet, queens vary from week to week, because you don't have a large hive it is probably more apparent to you. They will try and replace her if they think she can't manage! Other I am sure will disagree! But if they were mine I wouldn't be worried
E

 

[fiftyjon]

How much stores do you have?

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

About one frame of uncapped honey and patchy pollen on two frames. I know the workers are taking nectar as they have been going nuts over the gone to seed broccoli in the garden. I have been giving them a weak syrup on my mentors advice to try and give them a boost while we had the storms.

 

[oliver90owner]

Can't tell in a little over three weeks, all sorts of pressures on thed bees from beeks, forage, weather, etc.

Their biggest enemy likely has two legs and wears a beesuit!

Throwing then into a full sized box, with a gaping hole at the top and feeding far too much sugar syrup can mean a 'manufactured nuc colony' diverts too much energy into heating the cavern, drawing wax just to store sugar syrup and was only as strong as it appeared from brood put in from another colony. Add to that a couple weeks of cool weather and what appeared as a thriving colony is back to reality.

Not saying your colony has suffered all those maladies, but the possibility is there and you are now noticing thaf it is bees that you need for colony expansion, not drawn frames and stored sugar, and that means a cosy colony, not having any more demands than keeping warm the maximum amount of brood the bees can service.

Lastly were these four and three frames actual full frame equivalents, or just brood on fouf and three frames?

Undersized colonies do not rear drones. The bees are not stupid and raise workers in preference.

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

The brood is on full sized BS frames, 4 frames last week, three frames this week. It's far more patchy this week than last week (obviously some has hatched ) and nowhere near as many unsealed brood. Needless to say both my daughter and I are newbees to this beekeeping lark.

I will check them next weekend and try not to panic too much until then...maybe the storms have thrown the queen off laying.

 

[Moggett]

It would be wise to aim to run two colonies so all your eggs are not in the one hive so to speak. That way if a queen fails you have options!

 

[sharonh]

My daughter and I checked our hive today and we are worried the our queen is failing.....last week we had almost 4frames of brood (I should say that it's a nucleus we were given at the end of April) this week we have 3 frames of brood. We also noticed we have no drones or drone brood. There were a few eggs and larvae but no where near what we had last week. The queen hatched last year.

We have texted our mentor but he hasn't got back to us yet.

Hi,
Just a question for you, are your bees in a nuc hive or full sized hive?
If in a full sized hive, I would dummy down and put insulation( kingspan) behind the dummy board.
As mentioned, a small colony need to keep warm. Leave a frame each side of brood nest for them to fill before giving more frames.
If the bees are not happy with the queen, they will supersede her. You said there were some eggs. That's all they need to replace her.
Sharon



Love Beekeeping <3

 

[drex]

Normal brood pattern would be eggs:unsealed:sealed = 1:2:4. It is due to brood life cycle 3 days as egg, 5 unsealed and 8 sealed. Takes practice to judge though. As already said, it will vary depending on many factors. As rab says the biggest pest is the beekeeper. If in doubt leave it to the bees until your mentor can have a look.

 

[oliver90owner]

It is due to brood life cycle 3 days as egg, 5 unsealed and 8 sealed.-

Not in my book!

 

[BeeJayBee]

It is due to brood life cycle 3 days as egg, 5 unsealed and 8 sealed.

Not in my book!

Nor mine, unless it's a queen.

 

[drex]

Whoops. My mistake. Too early in morning. Sorry
Should have been 3 as egg, 5 uncapped, and 13 as capped - for workers

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

I have heard from my mentor....he is of the opinion that the queen is failing. Plans are being hatched to remedy the situation at the weekend.

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

Our mentor came over late this afternoon.....he inspected the hive and said something wasn't right with the queen and has taken the hive away, there was only 2 and a half frames of brood. He has brought us another nucleus that he said is going well. The old hive was decidedly grumpy today and our mentor joked it was because they knew he was not happy with them!

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

The mystery with these bees continues. I went over to see my mentor yesterday and he asked me to look at my old hive. He hadn't touched them since he took away as he wanted me to tell him/ show him what was going on and my observations .....the queen is still there, laying a little but the colony isn't growing.

The good news is that my new bees are much more lively and seem to be doing ok

 

[mbc]

no.1 reason for colonies with a laying queen to go backwards when they should be going forwards is varroa

 

[Erichalfbee]

He hadn't touched them since he took away

What....not even to investigate what could possibly be wrong?

 

[oliver90owner]

mbc,

You are def in the 'thinking' group.

If that was the reason, the mentor should have been aware earlier?

RAB

 

[mbc]

mbc,

You are def .

If that was the reason, the mentor should have been aware earlier?

RAB

Mentors are not always on top of their game.
It does annoy me a bit when a thread can run into its second page and no one mentions the obvious but find time to mention inconsequential things like insulation. Little nucs in cold thin ply boxes can forge ahead if all else is well.

 

[Mrs Webmuppet]

There was no trace of varroa, I had already checked for that, my mentor has drummed into my head about checking for varroa, chalk brood, wax moth and all such things that afflict bees and has subjected me to his collection of gruesome pictures of pests and diseases.

Having looked at the hive on Saturday and done some research I suspect Acarine, however according to my book it's fairly rare. I have let my mentor know my suspicions. Whatever it is I suspect that the best course of action is to re-queen, with a frame of eggs from a strong hive. (She is a red queen and I have been dying to say 'off with her head' ever since things started going wrong, with apologies to Alice in Wonderland)

I hope to go over later this week and try and sort them out.....I don't like admitting defeat!