Queen not laying

[BernardBlack]

She's there but looks like she's not laid for 4/5 days. Larvae but no eggs. There is some sealed drone brood within worker brood.

I thought a Drone Laying Queen. But if that was the case, she would still be laying eggs, would she not? (even though they'd be drones).

 

[Swarm]

My advice would be to leave the brood box alone now and let the bees get on with sealing their home, ready for Winter.
Brood breaks are not uncommon.

 

[Wingy]

Have you done any varroa treatment recently? I use Apiguard and people have said that thymol based treatments can knock the Q off laying for a week or so.
I had no problem last year with 1 x Nuc, this year 2 hives ok but in 1 the Q didn’t lay for nearly 2 weeks. Now laying like a machine again

 

[enrico]

My advice would be to leave the brood box alone now and let the bees get on with sealing their home, ready for Winter.
Brood breaks are not uncommon.

 

[Millet]

X 2 ..not had mine open for over a month now apart for one of the nucs to check if Queenless or not ready for a shake out.. Queen was spotted so that is the last time i will bother any of them till a warm day in spring.

 

[BernardBlack]

Have you done any varroa treatment recently? I use Apiguard and people have said that thymol based treatments can knock the Q off laying for a week or so.
I had no problem last year with 1 x Nuc, this year 2 hives ok but in 1 the Q didn’t lay for nearly 2 weeks. Now laying like a machine again

No, varroa count has been low, so Apiguard hasn't been needed.

I'll leave her to it. Hopefully it's just a brood break.

On the issue of some drone brood in with worker brood, is that anything to worry about?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

No, varroa count has been low, so Apiguard hasn't been needed.

Sugar roll or alcohol wash? if you haven't done either I wouldn't depend on the natural drop telling you anything.

 

[Beefriendly]

Sugar roll or alcohol wash? if you haven't done either I wouldn't depend on the natural drop telling you anything.

It's turning out to be a low varroa year as a whole. But hey, let's kill as many of the bastards as we can while we can.

 

[beeno]

She's there but looks like she's not laid for 4/5 days. Larvae but no eggs. There is some sealed drone brood within worker brood.

I thought a Drone Laying Queen. But if that was the case, she would still be laying eggs, would she not? (even though they'd be drones).

Is this the AS queen?

 

[BernardBlack]

Is this the AS queen?

It's the original queen in a new box, on original site.

 

[BernardBlack]

Sugar roll or alcohol wash? if you haven't done either I wouldn't depend on the natural drop telling you anything.

Hmm, mightn't do any harm, that.

 

[ShinySideUp]

Have you done any varroa treatment recently? I use Apiguard and people have said that thymol based treatments can knock the Q off laying for a week or so.

This is happening to me. Two of my three hives have stopped laying (well at least this time last week, I haven't been in since then, too busy putting up Asian Hornet monitoring traps).

 

[beeno]

Maybe she is becoming a drone layer? More to the point how is the parent colony doing?

 

[Swarm]

Maybe she is becoming a drone layer? More to the point how is the parent colony doing?

Based on what?

 

[madasafish]

I have inspected 5 colonies belonging to beginners in the last week. In all cases queens had stopped laying. There were very few stores.. Apart from HB, there has been little forage due to drought since early August. (they have now started feeding at my recommendation)

Mine are full of stores and queens laying but have not been fed.

I suspect that is it in a nutshell for many.

 

[BernardBlack]

Maybe she is becoming a drone layer? More to the point how is the parent colony doing?

That's what I was thinking. If so, she would need requeening, yes?

Parent colony, as in the other hive created from the AS?

 

[beeno]

Based on what?

Some sealed drone brood within worker brood - open to interpretation I know.

 

[beeno]

That's what I was thinking. If so, she would need requeening, yes?

Parent colony, as in the other hive created from the AS?

"Parent colony, as in the other hive created from the AS?" Yes, that's right. Can't remember your time line, but has this colony got a laying queen now?

In the AS part did she produce any brood to speak off after the AS? If she did not then all you have got there is a bunch of old foragers and it is not worth spending money on a new queen for them especially at this time of the year.

 

[Wingy]

No,

On the issue of some drone brood in with worker brood, is that anything to worry about?

This time of year I would guess most colonies have started kicking drones out by now. If you have drone mixed in with the worker brood (not just bits around the frame bottom or edges) I’d mark up a frame with fresh eggs and check again in 9 days, capped worker or drone? If all drone I’d suspect DLQ. But at this stage difficult to say

 

[beeno]

Drone laying queens often start firing blanks before they become fully blown drone layers.