no eggs no brood!

[juanito]

greetings,
inspected both hives this morning,
the smaller of the two has no brood and no eggs, The bees are out working as normal, capped honey and nectar and pollen, didn't see HM,
second hive has a handful of larvae on one frame , which is on the third frame in on the east side, no eggs,
three frames in on the west side is a handful of drone brood just emerging but no bees in attendance,
HM seen on the same frame as larvae,
as with the other hive, capped honey nectar and pollen stores,
Any ideas??
the temperatures have been in the mid to high thirties,
muchas gracias.

 

[beeno]

Hi Juanito,
Text book states no eggs/no brood you are either Q- or hopefully you have a virgin in there. Seen any QC in this one?
Larvae and HM - Q. How old is HM? And how good are you at spotting eggs? What's your forage position like?

 

[La Folie]

Give it another week or two. It might be that it is too hot for the queens. It is certainly too early to decide you are queenless, Ted Hooper reckons on at least 4 weeks (as I remember) so don't panic yet.

 

[enrico]

I always suggest patience but a frame of eggs should decide if you are q- or not.
E

 

[juanito]

eggs!

muchisimo gracias,
I am not overly concerned by the lack of eggs or brood as the bees are just getting on with things,The empty cells are all clean and shiny,
one thing we have noticed over the past couple of weeks is that the bees are up and about before its properly light then at about eight thirtyish all goes quiet, during the rest of the day the bees are working a succulent , latin name,
Aptenia Cordifolia, this plant flowers every day the sun is shining, we have a retaining wall 30 meters by 10 meters covered with it and there are literaly thousands of bees on it all day long, as the evening cools the bees go back to the honeysuckle,
tomorrow we are off into town and we will speak with patricio the guy we bought the bees from,
thanks again for the replies.

 

[tresallier]

I have a couple of recently acquired hives, they had been abandoned, possibly the previous keeper had died? the landowner wanted them removed in a hurry as they were 'angry'. (but as they were grown into a bramble patch they will have been there some years plus the hives and frames are quite rotten in places.) These bees are not in the least bit angry but neither has eggs. The last of the brood is hatching so the queen stopped laying just before I picked them up. My guess is both hives had swarmed (both were on the top super of a double brood three super hive - one exiting from a hole in the roof and the other from the side of the hive as it had been knocked over). Both industrious - one particularly bringing nectar and honey. cells polished, no eggs.
If the queens were not mated at the original site then I have no idea what the temperament of the new stock will be.
I also have no idea what the drone population locally is like.

How late in the year could I leave it to requeen with a known source queen? Bearing in mind the bees are on a farm where the owner will ride relatively close to the hives on the odd occassion.

Brood area and stores salvaged and stitched into the lower half of new langstroth frames, both hives set up as four frame nucs in new hives.

 

[johnnie1uk]

Hi Juanito
Its pretty much the same here, no eggs no brood but bees seem happy enough, i reckon its just too warm at 35+c everyday for the last 4 weeks.

 

[Teemore]

Just be aware that a brood break (lack of eggs and larvae) does not always mean that a colony has no queen.
I am starting to come across brood breaks in some colonies. This is a little earlier than I have been accustomed to in previous years. These are Q+ colonies and they tend to go for a week or two without eggs or larvae and then the queen starts laying again. I encounter this in colonies with new season queens and those with queens from last year (or older). Sometimes, brood breaks correspond with a fall off in nectar (i.e. end of a nectar flow).

 

[beeno]

Just be aware that a brood break (lack of eggs and larvae) does not always mean that a colony has no queen.
QUOTE]

Hi Teemore,
I totally agree, but it is of course important to be able to confirm whether a colony is indeed Q+ particularly late in the season.