Not much brood ,plenty of honey What should I do?

[Maja]

Hi All, ,
My first season , my first problem?
I have two hives in 2 different locations. Both are new colonies with new Q's this season. When I brought the first hive to my home location, there were bees coming out and forming "beard" , so I assumed there want to swarm , looked inside, there were plenty of them , so I added extra brood box with older drowned frames. I put couple of frames with brood to top box and  left hive for 1 week . Week later there were plenty of new brood , good pattern , seemed lots of drone cells, but I was not sure how many is OK(!?) . I added honey super thinking all is well. 1 week later : ,both boxes had brood, but seemed to me a bit patchy (?) , Q seen, plenty of honey and pollen.
2 weeks later -Both boxes plenty of honey, pollen , but only two middle frames in top brood box had brood, no Q seen , no eggs seen. Two frames had what seem to me new Q cells , four cells were open , one I destroyed. Attached the various picks. Sorry the quality not great, still learning. I put titles for photos what I assume is on them -but that's only my assumption.. I just realized I am unable to post pics yet..ANyway , any help appreciated.

[the-ecohouse.com]

Hey Maja

you can post by uploading the pictures to image shack then paste the link to your post so we can see ya pictures.

No eggs is not a good sign...are the bees polishing cells? ie are the cleaning out cells ready for eggs?

maybe your queen has be superseded by another, I've always found virgin queens really hard to find as they are about the same size as worker bees pre mating flights.

look shes going to be preety hard to find if there are a lot of bees still in the hive. dont worry about the other cells she has prob killed off the other queens.

check out the photo to see what i mean ...there is a virgin queen somewhere in the picture...shes real hard to see though



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So you can do a couple of things....take some of the honey out and make room ie put in undrawn frames.

Then as a precautionary measure you could add a frame of uncapped brood with eggs and small lava from your other hive. worst case scenario they will make another queen. best case scenario, they may make one but the VQ will kill it and begin laying when ready.

Then leave them alone for at least two weeks...they will be fine 


that's what i would do just to be sure.

Any other opinions for our beek?

[Maja]

Thanks Eco-house,
I will try the uploading later.
Bees polishing cells ready for eggs...can you explain more, please.
I am not sure about virgin Q on pics-is she in the centre , her front pointing to 7 oclock , short wings?
Cheers
Maja

[the-ecohouse.com]

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Hey Maja

shes right there..above the one that looks like it could be a queen...i guess my point is she is the same size a a regular worker..and shes going to be quite very hard to find when there are heaps of bees in the hive.

polished cells are super clean and shiney cells with absolutely nothing in them, the bees have prepared them for the queen to lay.

hope that helps

[OzBuzz]

I agree with what Eco says... Patience is the key.

Eco - is the VQ the one with her abdomen pointing to 1 o'clock? Just above a drone and with two workers facing 1 o'clock either side of her? The thorax is a give away along with the abdomen shape and wing length

[the-ecohouse.com]

sure is Ozbuzz...

now imagine trying to see her in the first picture when you glancing over the frames quickly, she certainly wouln't catch my eye.

hey maja....is that a your hive pic with the queen cup in the middle?

[Maja]

Hi Eco,
Yes , this is mine pick above. I was not quiet sure what type of cell was it...and why was it in the middle of frame full of honey?
I just downloaded some more picks and sent to Beemaster. I have to do it, since I am new to forum.I have problems with sending it to provided address (photos@beemaster.com) .Anyway...
My bees are happy, 
I swapped the outside ,empty frame in bottom brood box  with one next door full of honey and taken Q excluder out. What do you think?
Cheers

[Lone]

Hello Maja,

I may have missed something, but maybe they are making queen cells because the queen is failing or has disappeared.  Or as above there could be a virgin queen.  Maybe they swarmed already? It's hard to tell from your picture, but it looks like there might be brood around where the queen cell is.  Did you notice if the queen cell had a larva in it or was empty?  If you don't see eggs 4-6 weeks after the trouble started, I'd try and put a frame of eggs in if you know someone who could give you one.  Introducing a queen could be risky in case you have just missed her and she is not laying for some reason.  I had similar trouble with poor purchased queens. In one hive I thought she had finally disappeared (she was marked) but before they died out completely the hive started improving - when it was at its weakest with bees only on a frame or two, I must have missed the new young or virgin queen.  Now it's my strongest hive.  The other hive was just as bad but ended up with a laying worker.  Anyway, in this situation it is better not to squish queen cells because that is their chance to survive.  Note too I have lost a queen or two after inspecting or manipulating a hive.  I am more careful now, but it could be a reason for a missing queen.  Anyway, never give up hope.

I think if you have no or minimal brood, put all the brood frame/s together and condense down to one brood box with honey frames surrounding the brood.  Depending on the population, take off or keep the honey super.  Don't give them too much space until they are right.  Then leave the hive alone in case they are making a queen.  You don't want to disturb them.

Lone

[the-ecohouse.com]

yeah i agree with Lone, depends on the population. shake them down to one box if necessary (dont shake queen cells or frames with them on them).

if that picture is your thats a queen cell in the middle,

sometimes they drag eggs up through the excluder, i had one recently that keep dragging eggs through 3 supers to the top box and excluders to make queen cells in the top honey super, kept spliting them out but eventually i believe they swarmed (i cant be sure though).

[the-ecohouse.com]

Queen Cell in the top box past excluder



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