What to do now?

[lilybetbee]

Split hive three ways in late May. Both QC hatched and started to lay late June but then no more eggs in one part; the brood hatched and that was it.
Nothing laid for 2 weeks, bees calm and happy, experienced beekeeper said he thought a queen in there - give a bit longer, still no eggs a week later.

So a week ago I gave them a frame of BIAS to see if they would draw QC.
Today all is sealed and no QC made, no queen seen and no eggs.
Bees all calm and making honey.

What do I do next?

 

[beeno]

Hi Lilybetbee,
How many bees have you got in that hive?

 

[lilybetbee]

Enough to work the super they are filling and about 4-5 frames in the brood box, with two sides about to hatch.

 

[beeno]

Enough to work the super they are filling and about 4-5 frames in the brood box, with two sides about to hatch.

Hi again,
Must admit it sounds a bit like mine last couple of weeks, but now they are in full swing again with good brood pattern. Maybe they have neglected the brood in favour of the flow? Well, that's the conclusion I came to anyhow!

 

[lilybetbee]

There has been no eggs laid for a few weeks now. Why would a queen lay and then stop?

 

[enrico]

They do! Have patience. All the signs point to a queen. Try another frame of eggs in a week if still nothing but if they are quiet and working she is just having a little rest! You would need one if you had that many kids!!
E

 

[Finman]

.
Buy a laying queen.

Start a 3 frame nuc and you have a start if that hive does not show better signs.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

There has been no eggs laid for a few weeks now. Why would a queen lay and then stop?

'Cos they do! one stopped laying with me three weeks or so ago (earmarked for replacement anyway as she had chalkbrood issues. I ordered a new queen last weekend, opened up - laying like a train on eight frames! too late for her though - now sat next to the peas (and her sister) in the freezer

 

[lilybetbee]

Still no eggs, but bees calm on inspection. If there is a Q in there she's tiny as I have seen no sign of her. They don't want to make a new one - 2 tests frames tried.

So, to introduce a queen I need to ensure that there is no tiny, not-laying queen lurking anywhere.
So do I move the whole hive, replace any empty one on its site, and wait?
Tip them out or leave in current box?
Place frames in new hive position?
How soon do I do it before introducing a queen?

 

[pargyle]

Still no eggs, but bees calm on inspection. If there is a Q in there she's tiny as I have seen no sign of her. They don't want to make a new one - 2 tests frames tried.

So, to introduce a queen I need to ensure that there is no tiny, not-laying queen lurking anywhere.
So do I move the whole hive, replace any empty one on its site, and wait?
Tip them out or leave in current box?
Place frames in new hive position?
How soon do I do it before introducing a queen?

You have had no eggs now since the beginning of July ? And your bees are calm ? And they are filling supers with honey ? Doesn't make any sense ....

Where are your new bees coming from ... how many frames of brood have you given them from other hives ? After this length of time without new bees the colony would be noticeably reducing - if you are sure you don't have a laying (but largely invisible !) queen in there I would take Finmans advice ... whilst the colony is still viable.

There are a few tricks for finding a queen .... this site has a really good set of plans for finding the difficult to find ones.

http://www.bobsbeekeeping.com.au/uploads/tips/7 ways to find the queen.pdf

If you really have no eggs and you can't find the queen by one or more of these methods then you KNOW you have to requeen ... end of story. If you find the queen then you have the choice to put her in a Nuc with a few frames and see if that sparks her into action and then requeen her original colony ... if she doesn't start to lay in the Nuc then she's a lost cause and you squish her and reunite the bees in the Nuc - or requeen them with a mated queen and overwinter them in the Nuc if you want another colony.

 

[Beeline]

July month was a good flow so very strange she went off lay. Seven weeks on!!........you need to act and replace her asap with a mated queen. She is a lost cause.

If you're having trouble finding her then:

- get a second pair of eyes to help or,

- move the hive some distance away, provide an empty hive in it's place to house returning foragers. Within a day or two look in the original hive and the queen should be obvious within the now depleted numbers or;

- move hive some distance and shake out, place new brood box in original location and place original combs in a new brood box. Problem with this option may be that as she has been offlay for weeks she'll be able to fly and join the returning bees. In fact this highlights another problem when trying to catch her - being offlay she could quite easily take to the air.

Whatever option you choose, you really need to act now as there is not much left of the season.

 

[user 6228]

hang on ... quite a few beeks are reporting this behaviour... We also got a marked reduction in laying across 6 hives just as the flow stopped. They didnt stop completely but the brakes definitely went on...THe bees are all calm there is still BIAS.
I wouldnt be in such a rush to replace the queen when you are getting lots of queens showing the same behaviour.
We are going to see what happens here when the heather comes online in the next week or two.

 

[user 6228]

Whatever option you choose, you really need to act now as there is not much left of the season.

Not for the OP.... remember he is on High Peak... = Heather lots of it.

 

[pargyle]

hang on ... quite a few beeks are reporting this behaviour... We also got a marked reduction in laying across 6 hives just as the flow stopped. They didnt stop completely but the brakes definitely went on...THe bees are all calm there is still BIAS.
I wouldnt be in such a rush to replace the queen when you are getting lots of queens showing the same behaviour.
We are going to see what happens here when the heather comes online in the next week or two.

Yes ... but the OP is saying that she has seen no eggs (and presumably no brood or capped brood) since the beginning of July.

"Still no eggs, but bees calm on inspection. If there is a Q in there she's tiny as I have seen no sign of her. They don't want to make a new one - 2 tests frames tried.

So, to introduce a queen I need to ensure that there is no tiny, not-laying queen lurking anywhere".

As I said in my previous post ...there's something not right here - either there is BIAS and the OP can't see them or there's a queen that's not been laying at a time when there is no sense to her NOT laying ... doesn't make sense !

If the queen is not laying now there is not a lot of benefit of waiting much longer as the colony needs bees to build up to winter. If the OP waits much longer she will be running out of time to get a new laying queen in there ...

 

[pargyle]

Not for the OP.... remember he is on High Peak... = Heather lots of it.

Rather depends on where their hives are - centre of High Peak is a fair way off the moors ....

 

[lilybetbee]

Thanks for replies.
We are within a couple of miles of heather but HB is much closer; last season (my first) they brought in more in Sep than earlier in the year.

I was trying to be patient.
The numbers aren't too low because the test frames hatched out.

Last season I tried to introduce a Q but she just disappeared.
She was very yellow whereas my bees are dark, so not sure if that is an issue.

I have had an experienced beekeeper look and he thought there was a Q as they were so calm but couldn't spot her. No laying workers either.

Yes they have stores in the super and brood box, they emptied cells in th BB and they looked polished to me about 2 weeks ago so I was hopeful, but there's nothing been laid - just empty cells.