Not much brood

[Coldwater]

I have three colonies, one of which is a string swarm from June as is doing well. Ther other two were artificial swarms from may which grew well and produced a couple of supers of honey each. Both of these colonies now have a good number of bees but very little brood? (Maybe a frame in total in each hive). One of them has had trouble from wasps, but I have hopefully reduced that now and things are looking better. The other one has a good amount of stores and both hives are bringing in pollen but I can't figure out the sudden sudden reduction in laying.... Should I request them both? Presumably they should be starting to lay for winter now?

 

[Finman]

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They artifician swarms and made so much honey, boath 2 boxes or each one?

How big are those hives now? How many frames bees and how much stores?
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[Finman]

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My bet is that

- hive has too much space compared to bees. They cannot keep brood are warm because heat escapes
- mesh floor open

- they status is almost like mininuc

first you need more bees which nurse the brood.
Have you afford to take 2 frames of emerging brood from best hive?

Then join these miserable colonies and make a nuc. Take all boxes and frames off and start a new hive from brood frames, two pollen store frame, and then look do they need more frames.
Use dummy board if needed.
Absolutely, close mesh floor.
If they have food, don't feed them. You only fill the free laying
place..

 

[Coldwater]

One hive has almost no capped stores, 7-8 frames of bees but only a frame of brood. The other has 4 deep frames of stores and pollen and probacly 7-8 frames of bees. I closed up mesh floors this morning and removed extracted supers that I had put back on for them to clean up. Hopefully this will help? It has been vary warm 18 - 25 degrees for the last few weeks... Is that not warm enough for them to be able to bring temperature up to brood temp?

 

[Dishmop]

grew well and produced a couple of supers of honey each.

frames or full boxes?

 

[Finman]

One hive has almost no capped stores, 7-8 frames of bees but only a frame of brood. ?

That explains why they do not have brood more. You have good time to repair situation. Leave 2 frames of brood, it you have pollen frames, choose them.



Take from good hive a frame of emerging bees and they get more brood feeders. If you have flowering plants around, the queen will fill frames with brood quite quickly. Pollen is basis of brood rearing.- and warm hive.

Limiting factor is now number of nursing bees.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I have a similar thing; I had a huge amount of capped brood last week and much less this week so there is some sort of cycle going on. I have reached the conclusion that she basically ran out of room last week or slightly longer ago and have gone to double brood; it's late but pollen is pouring in, from old man's beard, I think.

 

[Finman]

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In late summer bees react on lack of pollen, cold nights and cold hive very different way than inspring. They try to read, is autumn coming in. Firt sign is that they kill dronesnd stop drone rearing.

Rainy week of course affects on laying.

My young queens here in Finland continues laying. I wonder why they should slow down in London.
But we have here forest pastures where hives have had stopped larva rearing, because the are pollen in woods.

i accelerate laying by giving exracted frames to be licked. That I do to weak nucs. The goal is to get one box full of brood. Big hives have enough brood. I do not accelerate them.

I have arranged earlier the hives so that they have enough pollen, all honey off, the hive space is proper for winter feeding.

 

[beeno]

Hi Coldwater,
Any chance of them having swarmed, superceded, as that would also explain lack of laying? Have you seen the queens? Good time to treat unless you have virgins in there!

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Hej Finman (and I'm sorry to hijack the thread a little). To be clear, my Red Queen Unseen is laying well and the 8 frames she is on have good amounts of BIAS, just much less CAPPED than last week, where I had frame after frame of it. So she's not laying evenly (and the weather doesn't fit, although there may have been a bit less pollen a week or so ago) and I think she ran out of room. It's all good, though, and I'm not worried; the colony is v strong (nearly time to split and plenty of time for winter brood but I have given extra room just in case. And no, I didn't stuff the brood box with sugar...

I'm just suggesting what happened with me to see if it has any bearing on the OP's case.

 

[PBee]

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.......
i accelerate laying by giving exracted frames to be licked. That I do to weak nucs. The goal is to get one box full of brood. Big hives have enough brood. I do not accelerate them.
......

Sounds like, in your experience, creating an artificial nectar flow stimulates brood rearing?

 

[Finman]

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Main component in colony growing is pollen stores in hives. We had just 10 days rain period.

Difference in my "nectar flow" is that I do not fill brood box with sugar.
I do it after 2 weeks called winter feeding.

Is that funny to pick one sentence to mouth and chew it like pubble gum.

I am really tired on "Brittish humour", like artificial nectar flows and feeding box experts and most of all to gease stailes steel for winter...

you have not nothing else talk on clever level.

Yes. 2 weeks ago I found a honey flower plantation which has started to bloom. It was at the distance of 20 km. I looked forecast. It promised 10 days rain to every day. I did not took my nucs to field, but I collect pollen frames from exctration.

PBee. I know exactly what I am doing and it works. Is that funny, isnt it. i am now doing 10 frames hives in 3 weeks from 3 frame mating nucs.
.

At the end on May I did several 3 frame nucs and after 2 months they have picked 60 kg average honey yield. I did not give a droplet syrup to them. They took all from nature.

I have not those funny artificial names to all what I do daily. I just do.

 

[PBee]

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..
Difference in my "nectar flow" is that I do not fill brood box with sugar.
.........

Your original contention seemed to be that feeding syrup did not have a stimulative effect. This would appear to have changed to one where it does, dependent on timing, rate and volume. I agree.
Protein availability is a limiting factor obviously. You provide it with your syrup as part your patty mixture, whilst here it is normally available without supplementation.

 

[Finman]

You provide it with your syrup as part your patty mixture, whilst here it is normally available without supplementation.

One year I reared in short time 6 nucs in August with soya and yeast and with electrict heating. They were fine in September, but after winter they were very same as dead.
It was easy to see, that pollen patty is not a proper material to rear winter bees.

I asked from 1000 hive owner, does he have difficulties in wintering 5-frames nucs, he sais no, not at all. He load the nuc with good pollen stores and it rears good cluster from pollen.

Is is known 60 years that bees need good quality pollen to get tolerant winter bees.