Re No Eggs Or Grubs The latest.....

[rawfind]

From my previuos post the hive in question.....



an update on that hive,,   Had a look today to see how they are going, they have filled nectar on most of the frames in the bottom box,
there is pollen stored there too, i also saw the queen although she looks shorter than when i last sighted her, there is no brood or eggs at all in the box, so im not sure what is happening, maybe

1 the queen died so  im looking at a new queen that hasn't matured.
2 The queen has stopped laying in preparation of winter?                                                                           
3 a new queen that hasn't mated?  can there be no drones in area due to time of year?

Should i be trying to re-queen this have with a mated queen?  im not worried about food as they seem to have plenty not all of it is capped but
nearly 8 frames should be enough?

[Lone]

Hello Neil,

Thanks for the update.  I'm not experienced in cold weather (Vic) overwintering, but there are a couple of reasons I can think of you might need a new queen.  If the queen is a new supercedure you might have to wait a week or so in case she hasn't started laying. If this is the one which has been there a while without laying she could be a problem as they are obviously still foraging very well and haven't shut down yet.  So bees will be dying earlier and not replaced, and numbers will go down.  And your other hives still have brood so that is an indication.  But can you still get mated queens this time of year?  You could put brood frames in because it sounds like there's no place for a queen to lay now.

Lone

[rawfind]

Hello Neil,

Thanks for the update.  I'm not experienced in cold weather (Vic) overwintering, but there are a couple of reasons I can think of you might need a new queen.  If the queen is a new supercedure you might have to wait a week or so in case she hasn't started laying. If this is the one which has been there a while without laying she could be a problem as they are obviously still foraging very well and haven't shut down yet.  So bees will be dying earlier and not replaced, and numbers will go down.  And your other hives still have brood so that is an indication.  But can you still get mated queens this time of year?  You could put brood frames in because it sounds like there's no place for a queen to lay now.

Lone

Think my supplier still has them, will keep an eye out and see how they go, i think brood from another hive would get chilled with the 10 min drive to the other site.