New queen needed?

[.B.]

Hi. I have two hives and one is showing very little activity. The other has many foragers returning at one per second or more when it's warm enough, but this one has very infrequent bees coming and going. There are definitely some in there, and I have seen pollen going in occasionally. I know they still have stores too.

I'll have to open it and look for eggs and larvae, but I wanted to ask, if I see no evidence of a queen laying at this stage, does that definitely mean the colony is queenless – or could she just be being slow about getting back to work?

And if I was to have to introduce a new queen now, will the remaining winter bees in the colony be numerous and long-lived enough to keep the colony going – or would adding a frame of brood be a definite requirement at this time of year?

Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[aidskywalker]

Put a test frame in from your good hive and go back to it 3-4 days later and see if any queen cells have been started, if no queen cells then she's in there. If you find queen cells , you have two choices, 1. let them rear a queen or 2.if they are quite weak, combine to the good hive then maybe split later in the season.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Put a test frame in from your good hive and go back to it 3-4 days later and see if any queen cells have been started, if no queen cells then she's in there. If you find queen cells , you have two choices, 1. let them rear a queen or 2.if they are quite weak, combine to the good hive then maybe split later in the season.

Not necessarily.
If you get queen cells made then there is no queen BUT if none are made it doesn't mean you do have a queen.

Have a look in then report back. It will give us something to work on.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Not necessarily.
If you get queen cells made then there is no queen BUT if none are made it doesn't mean you do have a queen.

 

[enrico]

Some colonies are slower at getting going.some fly at lower temperatures than others. It can be misleading to compare two hives, however at this time of the year the bees want new young, so the likelihood is that if you have no queen you will find no worker brood but some drone brood. That will be your biggest clue!
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[.B.]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I'll let you know what I find once I've been inside and had a look.

 

[Windowbee]

If You will not find any evidence of queen exist in Your hive , Then You should connect the colonies in one. But this weak one should be healthly.
After two moths You will able to divide the colonies and rear new queen.
Check for eggs in weak colony first. If they have no enaugh workers to keep warm they will not rear larvas from those eggs.
If You let them rear the queen in this part of Year colony maight be too week to survive because old overwintered bees will dying soon.

 

[.B.]

I'm going to take Windowbee's advice and combine them. I saw no sign that the Queen is laying, so the simplest option for the moment seems to be to combine them.

Thanks once again for your replies.

 

[theeggman]

Not necessarily.
If you get queen cells made then there is no queen BUT if none are made it doesn't mean you do have a queen.

Have a look in then report back. It will give us something to work on.

If there is a 'scrub' Q in there, combining may cause problems.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Not really a good idea to unite unless you are certain there is no queen in there - try a test frame and come back to us