Queen gone

[Brookend]

I had a little colony taken from an artificial swarm. Over the past couple of weeks they haven't been doing very well. Although the queen has been laying, the colony hasn't increased beyond 1 fame. I rather suspect that the workers have been destroying the queen's eggs though, as a couple of times I've noted eggs on a 2nd frame, but on inspecting the following week there were no eggs/larvae.
When I came to inspect this week, the queen was gone. There do appear to be a few eggs on the frame and some sealed brood, but no larvae. There are hardly any bees - probably about 30.
What's happened? Is there anything I can do, or are they doomed?
Thanks

 

[oliver90owner]

are they doomed?

Yes. Not viable.

 

[Heather]

You need many more bees to allow brood to develop. Lack of food, warmth.

 

[Brookend]

I did try feeding.
Just curious as to what may have happened. They were doing ok to start with.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Check for obvious signs of disease and maybe combine with a larger colony because these few bees on their own are doomed.

 

[Brookend]

I've got a strong colony, so should I put the remaining frame of bees from the doomed one into the strong one?

 

[BeeJayBee]

Probably not, they'll probably get attacked by the larger colony.

Give these bees some food, put a sheet of newspaper above the other colony, pierce the paper a couple of times then put this brood box on top - and walk away. There isn't much else you can do.

Other beekeepers may do this differently.

 

[Brookend]

sounds like a plan

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I've got a strong colony, so should I put the remaining frame of bees from the doomed one into the strong one?

Only if you are absolutely certain there is no disease in the weak colony. For the few bees you mention is it worth the risk?

 

[drex]

 

[jd101k2000]

If you have a strong colony, then 30 bees from this lot is neither here nor there. A strong colony, perhaps 50,000 bees, is adding approx 1,500 to its number every day and losing a similar amount (otherwise the number of bees would continue to increase).

So, 30 bees will not help... but could introduce disease or whatever else has caused their reduction in number.

My advice would be: Leave them to die. Do not combine.

 

[oliver90owner]

Give it a rest. 30 bees will not chew their way out of a box with a sheet of newspaper hindering them. Other bees might chew their way in if they need more space for storage. Just not worth the effort.

 

[alldigging]

I did try feeding.
Just curious as to what may have happened. They were doing ok to start with.

"I had a little colony taken from an artificial swarm."

What did that mean?

Did you mean you had an artificial swarm or you took some bees from it?

 

[Brookend]

It was an artificial swarm. It all got very complicated though, as the original queen swarmed anyway and a supersedure was left, which hatched and it all seemed to be going well until a couple of weeks ago when I noticed the colony didn't seem to be getting any bigger.
Luckily, I managed to tempt the swarm into a bait box, so I've still got that colony.