Off Lay?

[Beedogg]

Inspected today. Two colonies with 6-7 frames of BIAS, lots of bees and lots of activity.
The 3rd was full of bees and very active but had no brood and no eggs that I could see, but I did find the queen. Given the volume of bees it looks to me as if she had been laying until recently but, for some reason, seems to have stopped. There were some unsealed QCs which I suppose might have been supercedure cells.

Is it common for a queen to stop laying at this stage in the season? The weather has been particularly difficult and I imagine that there's been little income. But given that the two neighbouring colonies are going at it full tilt it seems unlikely to be to be environmental.
Grateful for any advice.

 

[enrico]

Inspected today. Two colonies with 6-7 frames of BIAS, lots of bees and lots of activity.
The 3rd was full of bees and very active but had no brood and no eggs that I could see, but I did find the queen. Given the volume of bees it looks to me as if she had been laying until recently but, for some reason, seems to have stopped. There were some unsealed QCs which I suppose might have been supercedure cells.

Is it common for a queen to stop laying at this stage in the season? The weather has been particularly difficult and I imagine that there's been little income. But given that the two neighbouring colonies are going at it full tilt it seems unlikely to be to be environmental.
Grateful for any advice.

Funny, I have one of my two remaining hives exactly the same. Never seen it before at this time of the year, not had a particularly cold spell. Just hoping the queen hasn't gone duff! Can't afford to lose another

 

[gregior]

Inspected today. Two colonies with 6-7 frames of BIAS, lots of bees and lots of activity.
The 3rd was full of bees and very active but had no brood and no eggs that I could see, but I did find the queen. Given the volume of bees it looks to me as if she had been laying until recently but, for some reason, seems to have stopped. There were some unsealed QCs which I suppose might have been supercedure cells.

Is it common for a queen to stop laying at this stage in the season? The weather has been particularly difficult and I imagine that there's been little income. But given that the two neighbouring colonies are going at it full tilt it seems unlikely to be to be environmental.
Grateful for any advice.

I had the same thing in one of mine last week. Imo there's no way a q should go off lay at this time of year. I squished her and united the colony.

 

[pargyle]

Inspected today. Two colonies with 6-7 frames of BIAS, lots of bees and lots of activity.
The 3rd was full of bees and very active but had no brood and no eggs that I could see, but I did find the queen. Given the volume of bees it looks to me as if she had been laying until recently but, for some reason, seems to have stopped. There were some unsealed QCs which I suppose might have been supercedure cells.

Is it common for a queen to stop laying at this stage in the season? The weather has been particularly difficult and I imagine that there's been little income. But given that the two neighbouring colonies are going at it full tilt it seems unlikely to be to be environmental.
Grateful for any advice.

Funny, I have one of my two remaining hives exactly the same. Never seen it before at this time of the year, not had a particularly cold spell. Just hoping the queen hasn't gone duff! Can't afford to lose another

I had the same thing in one of mine last week. Imo there's no way a q should go off lay at this time of year. I squished her and united the colony.

Patience, Patience, Patience ... there's plenty of time to resolve any queenless issues as/once the season gets started ... not a time to be fiddling about.

 

[Eyeman]

The broodless colony almost certainly has a defective queen. As others have said not a lot to do at the moment. By the time new queens are available the colony will have dwindled.

 

[The Poot]

I had the same thing in one of mine last week. Imo there's no way a q should go off lay at this time of year. I squished her and united the colony.

That’ll teach her!

 

[drex]

Same problem here. Did a quick inspection as was sunny and 15C, and will be out of action for a few weeks. Queen seen but no eggs or brood. Bee numbers dwindling. Dummied them down and will see in time. My last remaining colony of the 3 I moved from Essex. They obviously don't like Devon.
Think I will be beeless for the first time since getting my first colony

 

[Beedogg]

Had another look yesterday. Situation exactly the same. Bees, queen but no eggs.

On looking closely there are two or three well formed (but un-filled) QCs - in other words QCs that are more than just play-cups. It looks to me as if the Queen was laying fine up until a couple of weeks or so ago (judging by the number of bees) and then maybe started to falter (prompting the creation of what I assume were to be supercedure QCs) but then stopped abruptly before they could be charged.

I plan to unite the remnants with one of the other colonies but I'm slightly concerned that stocks are low in those colonies because the weather has been so poor. I don't want to exacerbate the recipient's problem by dumping a few thousand more mouths to feed into those colonies. And I don't really want to feed syrup or fondant because I don't want that getting into what honey they are storing.

Blimey, what to do..?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

squish the dud queen, unite - they will sort themselves out in due course.

 

[Swarm]

Had another look yesterday. Situation exactly the same. Bees, queen but no eggs.

On looking closely there are two or three well formed (but un-filled) QCs - in other words QCs that are more than just play-cups. It looks to me as if the Queen was laying fine up until a couple of weeks or so ago (judging by the number of bees) and then maybe started to falter (prompting the creation of what I assume were to be supercedure QCs) but then stopped abruptly before they could be charged.

I plan to unite the remnants with one of the other colonies but I'm slightly concerned that stocks are low in those colonies because the weather has been so poor. I don't want to exacerbate the recipient's problem by dumping a few thousand more mouths to feed into those colonies. And I don't really want to feed syrup or fondant because I don't want that getting into what honey they are storing.

Blimey, what to do..?

If you are worried about stores and the sudden increase in numbers, you could divide the frames and unite with both remaining hives.

 

[Antipodes]

Had another look yesterday. Situation exactly the same. Bees, queen but no eggs.

On looking closely there are two or three well formed (but un-filled) QCs - in other words QCs that are more than just play-cups. It looks to me as if the Queen was laying fine up until a couple of weeks or so ago (judging by the number of bees) and then maybe started to falter (prompting the creation of what I assume were to be supercedure QCs) but then stopped abruptly before they could be charged.

I plan to unite the remnants with one of the other colonies but I'm slightly concerned that stocks are low in those colonies because the weather has been so poor. I don't want to exacerbate the recipient's problem by dumping a few thousand more mouths to feed into those colonies. And I don't really want to feed syrup or fondant because I don't want that getting into what honey they are storing.

Blimey, what to do..?

How old is the queen?
Is she marked?
Could she be a young supersedure queen?

 

[madasafish]

Inspected today. Two colonies with 6-7 frames of BIAS, lots of bees and lots of activity.
The 3rd was full of bees and very active but had no brood and no eggs that I could see, but I did find the queen. Given the volume of bees it looks to me as if she had been laying until recently but, for some reason, seems to have stopped. There were some unsealed QCs which I suppose might have been supercedure cells.

Is it common for a queen to stop laying at this stage in the season? The weather has been particularly difficult and I imagine that there's been little income. But given that the two neighbouring colonies are going at it full tilt it seems unlikely to be to be environmental.
Grateful for any advice.

Normal. Saw one this am. Light syrup in contact feeder 250ml maximum will often jog them to feed Q and her to restart laying.

 

[Do224]

Had another look yesterday. Situation exactly the same. Bees, queen but no eggs.

On looking closely there are two or three well formed (but un-filled) QCs - in other words QCs that are more than just play-cups. It looks to me as if the Queen was laying fine up until a couple of weeks or so ago (judging by the number of bees) and then maybe started to falter (prompting the creation of what I assume were to be supercedure QCs) but then stopped abruptly before they could be charged.

I plan to unite the remnants with one of the other colonies but I'm slightly concerned that stocks are low in those colonies because the weather has been so poor. I don't want to exacerbate the recipient's problem by dumping a few thousand more mouths to feed into those colonies. And I don't really want to feed syrup or fondant because I don't want that getting into what honey they are storing.

Blimey, what to do..?

I had this situation a couple of years ago. It seemed to me that they’d superseded the queen late in the autumn and it had been too late for the new queen to get mated. Hence finding a couple of empty queen cells in the spring. My colony also appeared to have high bee numbers which I agree is a little puzzling.

Was the queen you saw unmarked? I guess if she was marked then my theory wouldn’t apply in your case.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

My colony also appeared to have high bee numbers which I agree is a little puzzling.

possibly because, as there is no brood, the winter bees haven't had to stress their old bodies quite so hard as if they had brood to feed, I think you will witness a cataclysmic mortality rate soon as the old bees will all shuffle off the mortal coil in concert

 

[Antipodes]

Was the queen you saw unmarked? I guess if she was marked then my theory wouldn’t apply in your case.

Yes, hopefully there will be a reply about the queen.
Other questions to be answered too are how did the queen appear?
Old, skinny, plump, clipped, running around and very active or barely hanging onto the comb?

 

[Beedogg]

The queen is one I collected in a swarm in July last year. I marked her on arrival. She looks plump and healthy and appears to be moving around happily. Just not laying.

 

[Beedogg]

Would it be sensible to put a frame of BIAS from one of the other colonies? If the bees are aiming to supercede her, given that she's probably over a year old, then that would give them the means to do so.