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Pollen but no nector. And bees trying to swarm

2K views 0 replies 1 participant last post by  bradleymarson693 
#1 ·
hi guys n gals, im over in south-west victoria in australia and has two issues i need some opinions on.

My first issue is with a hive i have that is around 2.5months old from a wild swarm i captured. I have been away for a month and got back last week and on my first inspection since returning found patchy brood with good pollen stores but no honey/nectar stores. So i have had them on a feeder for 5 days and then i stopped as we are in the summer here and they had started to store it, and also the brood pattern has started to improve meaning continuous cells side by side being used. I have been and inspected them again today to find the honey/nectar stores are getting low again with brood pattern still good. As i watch the hive entrance 80% of returning bee are fully loaded with pollen of all different varieties. Would it be that there is just alot of pollen producing flowers and not alot of nector or am i missing something???

P.S There not getting robbed




My second issue is with a different hive that is just as old and also a wild swarm that i captured. Before i left i placed a double deep on the top for them to move into as this hive is strong and doing well, there is a good amount for capped honey with good pollen stores and a great amount of capped brood and larve but very few eggs. Yet on my inspection today i have found around 8 Q-cells 4 of which have larva in them from which they maybe 1/2days from sealing.

Now in the bottom brood box none of the frames are fully drawn out as i would of expected and they haven't even touched the box above. I can find a few eggs laid but not many which makes me think she is still there even though i could'nt find her today unless she was lost in the last day or two. I know for sure they haven't swarmed yet as the numbers are the same as my first inspection when i arrived back.

Now as i can not find her i have moved frames in the bottom box in alternate's so i have a frame with drawn comb, then a frame with no foundation or drawn comb and so on. With the extra drawn comb frames i have moved them into the top box directly above the brood area in the bottom. so hopefully if they were planning on swarming they will tare all the Q-cells down with all the extra room they now have. And if the queen has been lost for some reason they are just replacing her and will do so with one they are rearing now!

Is the much more i can do without splitting them as i dont have a spare hive atm.

Thanks guys
 
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