No brood?

[Hobie]

Did my first-of-the-year full inspection yesterday. One hive is going gangbusters. I had intended on removing the bottom deep, as last year they had moved up and the lowest one was empty. But they had already started filling it with brood and honey, so it stayed. 2nd deep is full of brood, shallow on top of that has a bit of brood and honey.

2nd hive is another story. They seem happy and were busily foraging. Maybe about 8 frames of bees spread out through 2 deeps. But I looked at every frame: No brood. Saw nectar, pollen, capped honey, crystallized honey, but no brood. Found one queen cell (capped) on the bottom of a frame. Any ideas what is going on? Are they doomed?

[Ruben]

No, the capped queen sounds like she is almost ready! That is good news.

[Jeffzhear]

"...2nd hive is another story. They seem happy and were busily foraging. Maybe about 8 frames of bees spread out through 2 deeps. But I looked at every frame: No brood. Saw nectar, pollen, capped honey, crystallized honey, but no brood. Found one queen cell (capped) on the bottom of a frame. Any ideas what is going on? Are they doomed?"

I had one hive like that yesterday. I swapped a frame of capped brood with day old eggs from a hive that was going gang-busters just incase the hive needed fresh eggs. The queen cell didn't look right to me...

Hope it works out for you.