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British Beekeepers Association Official Forum 

  • requeening

  • Beginners forum, ask beekeeping related questions and get help from other experienced beekeepers. Please use the Search Feature please to avoid duplicated threads
Beginners forum, ask beekeeping related questions and get help from other experienced beekeepers. Please use the Search Feature please to avoid duplicated threads
 #3634  by Alfred
 17 Jun 2019, 12:54
I have a colony which now has no brood
From my previous postings you regulars will instantly guess which one and you all have the statutory right to say I told you so.Theres plenty of active bees and surprisingly they are one of the the best behaved of all They are taking syrup,foraging pollen and filling stores,leaving space for brood thats no longer arriving.
I suspected something was up on Thursday evening but the light levels were not helping.I couldn't see eggs in the other hives either but I've seen there's fecundity in those today
I'm hoping it's not too late to do anything and
I've ordered a buckfast which I'm getting in the morning -I could use her elsewhere if it turns out to be.
I could take a frame from my strongest group who have almost filled up their first box-if that's not wasting bees.
I'd rather fix them than scrap them,and no I'm not going back to the vendor as things would get unpleasant.
Any advice,tips on top of the YouTube stuff I've seen?
 #3635  by AdamD
 17 Jun 2019, 14:08
If you are not sure whether a colony has a queen, a test-frame can be added of course. Alternatively if there are polished cells in the area where you would expect to find brood, there's a good chance that a queen is present. You can usually tell by the timing of previous events and the weather as to whether there should be a young 'un in there that has yet to mate.
 #3638  by Patrick
 17 Jun 2019, 14:56
To add to Adam’s hints, always start the process of investigating if you are queenless (unless you have reason to know - ie you removed her) with the presumption that there is either the original queen present (is she marked and or clipped) or a virgin queen or one on the way ( a cell somewhere).

What you have described is more like a queen that has gone off lay. Which can commonly happen if there is a sudden change in the weather and foragers can’t bring in nectar.

Biggest clue for me from that you said was bees are quiet. Usually queenless bees are anything but. You say no brood - have you looked for eggs? A naturally queenless hive would normally immediately raise queen cells, no evidence?

I would only attempt to introduce a queen (esp a bought one) when I was sure there was no queen or virgin already present (ie in these circumstances an introduced test frame had emergency cells raised on it. If they don’t chances are they are queenright and will kill your expensive new queen. Pop her in a nuc with a couple of frames of queenless bees whilst you find out for sure.
 #3639  by Alfred
 17 Jun 2019, 15:23
Thanks both
There are no eggs larvae or anything sealed.
They are way behind all the other hives in drawing comb-even the little grapefruit caste.
No polished cells
There was bias a week ago.
No queen cells ever in this one
My idea of quiet behaviour might be different from someone elses......
I never managed to spot a queen,although she is allegedly marked.
 #3644  by AdamD
 17 Jun 2019, 20:20
Alfred, I don't understand when you say that there was BIAS a week ago but none now?? Do you mean sealed brood a week ago rather than Brood In All Stages which means eggs, larvae and sealed brood?
 #3646  by Alfred
 17 Jun 2019, 21:50
Ermm yes
My eyes are often drawn to some old long dead sealed brood on the old frames the nuc arrived on.
There are no eggs in any cells and no larvae