Lots of eggs on inspection board?

[dickndoris]

So far all the colonies have come through the most of winter. Unfortunately there is one of the wooden hives that looks like it might not make the rest as the inspection tray has many eggs on it that have fallen through the omf. I am guessing that the queen is no more and there are laying workers in there?
Not much I can do in this silly cold weather but if there is, might the best thing to do is tip out the bees on the apiary floor and let them sort themselves out or might there be something else?
Cheers

R

 

[Hawklord]

I've noticed this in previous years, but the queens were ok. I presume it happens when the weather warms up and goes cold again killing the eggs.

 

[Ely]

Season still hasn't started here in Norfolk. Still bloody freezing

 

[Cazza]

I am guessing that the queen is no more and there are laying workers in there?
Not much I can do in this silly cold weather but if there is, might the best thing to do is tip out the bees on the apiary floor and let them sort themselves out or might there be something else?
Cheers

R

Not sure of your logic re laying workers here. More likely to be lack of pollen to feed the brood and cold weather?? (Happy to be proved wrong.)

Better to hang on before you go tipping them out. Wait and see until you can check for a queen.

Cazza

 

[Winker]

Not sure of your logic re laying workers here. More likely to be lack of pollen to feed the brood and cold weather?? (Happy to be proved wrong.)

Better to hang on before you go tipping them out. Wait and see until you can check for a queen.

Cazza

Yup the workers may have dummped the eggs due ot lack of pollen to rear brood. Queen should still be ok

 

[oliver90owner]

Although I was once warned of possible laying workers in a possibly Q- colony, I have never experienced laying workers this early in the season. So there is the first question, as I would like to know: does occur this early in the season?

The second scenario is a likely one, but all this needs confirming by a simple inspection at the earliest opportunity. Nothing is likely to happen or change until then, so speculation is unnecessary, possibly counter-productive and generally useless.

Making presumptions is not a good way to keep bees. Be patient and await a suitable time for insection is my advice.

 

[Chris B]

I've never heard of bees dumping eggs. Eating them maybe. I doubt very much it's eggs you're seeing.

 

[Tom Bick]

Had a similar thing about this time last year and at the time put it down to the bees expanding and then a cold snap but on my early inspection’s it was clear the queen was failing and lucky for me the bees superseded her before the weather turned bad.

 

[richardbees]

R

Are you quite sure they were eggs, as I've never come across that before and always assumed they ate unwanted ones? Mind you, that observation is tempered by the fact it's only recently I've had OMF for eggs to fall through and be seen.

 

[m100]

might the best thing to do is tip out the bees on the apiary floor and let them sort themselves out or might there be something else?

Yes, stop interfering for at least another six weeks. Keep an eye on the hive weight, quickly add fondant if required. No lifting out frames 'just to check' just a 10 second removal of crownboard and plonk the previously slitted bag on. There is next to zero early OSR because of waterlogged fields (last year OSR was spotted flowering in the first week of January) so the bees will have little mass forage until the weather really turns. It's six weeks from egg to forager with all those winter bees needing to be replaced.

It's highly unlikely there will be any swarms up here until mid to late May maybe even later. So there is absolutely no need for an inspection until the end of April even in some of the places up here with a microclimate. Last year, despite the mild February and March, I first went in a week after the BBKA convention.

Above all remember this is Yorkshire, not the South or Finland or the Mediterranean. Read a book, eat some honey, make some frames but leave the bees alone!

 

[richardbees]

m100

excellent advice, it's easy to forget the geographical spread of posters here....but I bet you're wrong about this -

It's highly unlikely there will be any swarms up here until mid to late May maybe even later

 

[Tom Bick]

I don’t think the OP is interfering with his hives but simply reporting what he has found on the inspection board and is assuming the worst as its the unusual and the first time he has seen it.

 

[Chris B]

Yes, stop interfering for at least another six weeks.

Is it really that different in Yorkshire?
Depends what you mean by "interfering" too. Personally I'd be thinking about swarm prevention and getting supers on to accomodate bees, even if there isn't much forage. You can do that without removing frames.

 

[Haughton Honey]

Would you do this in the traditional way (bb/qx/super) or are you talking about placing a qx on top of an 'open' crown board and adding a super above it Chris?

Wouldn't plonking an empty super directly above a hive with 4-6 frames of brood be a bit iffy?

Just a thought.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Is it really that different in Yorkshire?
Depends what you mean by "interfering" too. Personally I'd be thinking about swarm prevention and getting supers on to accomodate bees, even if there isn't much forage. You can do that without removing frames.

agree, i will put two on by Easter with a sheet of newspaper between ...let them decide when to go up....two 14x12 frames of eggs/brood equates to a super of Bees

 

[Haughton Honey]

agree, i will put two on by Easter with a sheet of newspaper between ...let them decide when to go up....two 14x12 frames of eggs/brood equates to a super of Bees

Can't see that happening up here MM. The 10-day forecast doesn't show anything above 7/8 degrees.

 

[MuswellMetro]

Can't see that happening up here MM. The 10-day forecast doesn't show anything above 7/8 degrees.

accuweather shows 12/14 degrees in the same period down here, shows the london variation possible due to all the hot air from pariliament

Also it is the equinox and the Sun will soon be above the yard arm..swift change in temps soon..PLEASE PLEASE

could the eggs be wax moth?

 

[Excession]

It would be nice to get a photo of the eggs on the inspection board from the OP...

 

[dickndoris]

Thanks for all the reply's. Interesting. For sure they are eggs with a picture coming soon as I remembered my camera this morning. I have no intension of going into the hive in this cold weather as really I do like to leave the bees to it if I can. They have plenty of fondant on and 40mm of insulation on top of the crown board too. The reason I asked the question was I just have never seen it before as someone rightly said.
The first drones came from this hive. Heard them before I could see them. Big fellows! Only a couple.
Right, now how to use an otg cable on a tablet.......

 

[Tom Bick]

Hi Dick if you say that you have a few drones flying at this time of year then your hive mirrors my hive this time last year, discarded eggs on the inspection tray and a few early drones at the entrance and on my first inspection it was clear the queen was failing not totally but failing.

To me this thread just goes to show that the inspection tray can give a good indication as to what may be happening in the hive at this early time of year without the need of the beekeeper wanting to peek inside.

You may be ok Dick with time on your hands but either way you have options available.