should I be worried?

[DaveS]

Hi

Inspected today and no sign of eggs, larvea or capped brood. Queen (red) was present.

Whilst I have been feeding there is still plenty of room in bb to fill before winter. Maqs removed a week last wednesday after 7 days.

Should I be concerned that queen is not laying or could this be temporary? Should I keep feeding or leave it a while to make sure they don't fill everything with syrup?

Thanks

 

[enrico]

I would leave the feed for a week, the weather is warmer, there is plenty of time for a top up, see what happens. Queens do go off lay this time of the year and to be honest I would query why you were looking! There is little you can do if she is not laying! Just let them get on with it!
Eric

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Same as enrico, I've had queens go off lay at this time only to be fine a few weeks later.Time for poking around has finished I'm afraid - looking around at the moment on behalf of a friend for a queen and so far all the big players are out of them until next year, I've got a coup[le of hives that are 'not quite right' but I've just got to leave them get on with it!

 

[beeno]

Sorry, Jenkins, but I thought all the big players had large winter losses?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

sorry, don't get you

 

[Finman]

Hi

Inspected today and no sign of eggs, larvea or capped brood. Queen (red) was present.

So the queen has stopped laying over 3 weeks ago, at the end of August. It sounds not normal.

 

[beeno]

sorry, don't get you

Did not put them to bed properly! I like to know for certain that my bees are put to bed Q+. The weather will still have some summer days left in it, so why take a chance? I guess from a commercial point of view you cannot afford the time to pay someone to do it and I appreciate that having run my own business! Time is money, but that does not mean hobbyists should take the same approach!

 

[enrico]

The chance,beeno, is that you will do more harm than good! Squish the queen accidentally and that is it, they are trying to get themselves sorted for winter and you keep breaking seals and disrupting their organised lives..... For what reason? The queen is not laying.... So what are you going to do now? Let them get on with it. They are far better at knowing what they need than you are!
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

I agree with enrico.
Too late to be poking about.
The only checking I will be doing is with a torch through the crown board and with my luggage scales.
If I need to move a frame of stores nearer the cluster during a prolonged spell then so be it but no oxalic this year.

 

[REDWOOD]

Curiosity killed the cat, I bet Finman wished his neighbour had curious cats

 

[beeno]

Sorry Guys, but this is a no brainer to me. If I find out this week, with temps as forecast, that my 10 frame colony is Q-, I shall unite my four frame nuc with it!!!

 

[enrico]

It's not q- there is a queen in there......the question is - if it is laying,
With regard to inspections at this time of the year it is of course up to you but..... Why would it be q-? If you don't interfere and the last time you looked in the summer it was ok, my advice is to leave it, not keep checking just in case!
E

 

[beeno]

Curiosity killed the cat, I bet Finman wished his neighbour had curious cats

I call my approach welfare and the other approach neglect for a hobbyist. I think we should all agree to disagree on this point as this particular debate every year is boring to both sides, am sure.

 

[beeno]

It's not q- there is a queen in there......the question is - if it is laying,
With regard to inspections at this time of the year it is of course up to you but..... Why would it be q-? If you don't interfere and the last time you looked in the summer it was ok, my advice is to leave it, not keep checking just in case!
E

Followed your method once and ended up with laying workers. Don't have to this year. If the colony does not get winter bees it is doomed and will die out before spring.

 

[DaveS]

Thanks for the replies.

Given that I have been poking around and know that the queen isn't laying what should I do - if I leave them to it and she doesn't lay again doesn't it mean the colony is doomed and won't survive winter.

If I check again in a week and she still isn't laying is it too late to buy a replacement to go into winter with a layer?

 

[mbc]

Thanks for the replies.

Given that I have been poking around and know that the queen isn't laying what should I do - if I leave them to it and she doesn't lay again doesn't it mean the colony is doomed and won't survive winter.

If I check again in a week and she still isn't laying is it too late to buy a replacement to go into winter with a layer?

I think you may have missed the point that its quite natural for queens not to be laying at this time of year.
Given that a queen is fully functioning, she will lay eggs in response to stimuli, that is, how much, and what, her attendants feed her, and those attendants are also responding to stimuli (mostly whats coming into the hive in terms of nectar and pollen )to determine what they feed her. Perhaps when pollen and nectar become more plentiful again (ivy ?)she will lay up some more brood for the final lot of bees before winter sets in.
Its largely down to local conditions but I know most of my queens have all but given up maintaining a nest, but I expect them to have another burst possibly towards the end of next week with the good forecast and the ivy coming into flower.
Although the advice not to poke around too much at this time of year is spot on for colony health, having a look at the bees at all different times of the year can be a valuable learning experience for the beekeeper, perhaps not to be recommended for those with only one or two hives to play with though.

 

[Swarm]

Did not put them to bed properly! I like to know for certain that my bees are put to bed Q+. The weather will still have some summer days left in it, so why take a chance? I guess from a commercial point of view you cannot afford the time to pay someone to do it and I appreciate that having run my own business! Time is money, but that does not mean hobbyists should take the same approach!

Sweeping statement, do you have anything to back this up or are you just jumping to your own conclusions?

 

[Finman]

I think you may have missed the point that its quite natural for queens not to be laying at this time of year. .

But ... when it has no brood, it has not layed since end of August. I suppose that it is not natural in your latitudes

But those bees, which have lt reared larvae, they will winter normally.
Thery have now queen and in Spring you will see, if it starts laying.

I bet that the hive survive normally over winter.

Once I had a strong colony where bees had emerged in July. In April the hives was in good condition.
The queen mated so late that it had not much time to lay.

 

[Vramin]

We are expecting temperatures exceeding 20C this week - a perfect opportunity do do an inspection. This is my 2nd year keeping bees, and I think it could be very educational to see whats going on in the hives. I certainly don't agree that it's too late to go in. If problems are discovered then action can be taken, uniting for instance.

 

[Swarm]

Do you make a habit of opening your hives for curiosity's sake? If you are curious about what's happening study the entrance, the bees are making Winter preparations and best left alone.

I'll believe those temps when I see them. Grey with misty rain all day yesterday (was down your way and you had a bit of sun, nothing special) Today, warm but overcast and grey and certainly not in excess of 20 degrees.