Weak (dying) hive??

[BeeZee]

I am really a novice - started a hive this past spring - was doing great till fall- I have 2 deeps, and had about 60 lb of honey stored in the top one. Hive was really strong in mid September when I medicated (apistan strips & fumidil in syrup) Wwhen I took the strips out, 6 weeks later, I knew I was in trouble. Very spotty brood, no evidence of queen (I looked & looked & looked couldn't see her) - no eggs or larvae either. Absolutely NO signs of foulbrood (no smell, ropiness, sunken larvae caps) a few punctured caps w/ dead larvae inside. My partner sez: "leave 'em alone - let nature take it's course" - but I don't want the hive to fall to wax moths or be robbed, or other nasty things. I would like to add a few more hives in the spring, but I'm a little discouraged at my bad luck this year.
Any ideas??

[BjornBee]

For bigger outfits, checking hives in 6 weeks increments or longer is part of the business. Dividing, requeening, and making up for losses are part of the business. Losses are to be expected.

For the hobbyist, perhaps checking on a less than 6 week interval might be better. Keep in mind....

You stand a greater than 10% chance of losing a queen at anytime. In mid-summer its no big problem as bees requeen without some beekeepers even knowing it. In the fall, its the beekeepers best interest to know what the hive is doing as a hive may not requeen at a high percentage. This year on the east coast, swarming was happening up till the end of Sept. For the queen that runs out of eggs or is killed in winter, thats part of the normal losses that go along with beekeeping. Most just catch this hive situation in spring, and then blame it on the mites. At least you know.

Use this as learning experience. Know how to look at brood and tell the condition of the queen. Brood pattern can tell alot.

If your using apistan hopefully it was for a reason. Assuming there was a reason, than checking in 1-2 weeks to see if the strips were working, would of been a good thing to do. This could of been a good time to also see the status of the hive.

I am trying to not only help in saying what you should do, but mentioning what you may of done differently, so the mistake is not made again. Assuming you made one to begin with. We are dealing with live creatures and stuff happens. No matter how good you get.
Minimize the entrance. And check again in a week if weather allows.

[dickm]

Your partner may be right. You didn't say you had no bees. I assume there are bees in number. Because you didn't see the queen doesn't mean she isn't there. She has to stop laying sometime. It happens about now. You may merely be observing nature at work. Good luck.

dickm