[cbf89]

I started a new hive about 5 weeks ago. I last opened the hive 2 weeks ago, saw the queen, plenty of brood, eggs, ect. I thought everything was great.

I opened today and found lots of young bees, but no sign of a queen. There was some capped brood, but no eggs or larvae. I also found 5 queen cells that looked like they had already hatched.

The number of bees doesn't seem to have decreased so I don't think it swarmed so I'm guessing supersedure.

What's next? How long should I wait before checking for a queen? I'm a bit worried.


Also, I currently have 2 hives and a nuc, I opened them all today and they are all pretty dry, almost no honey. All 3 have feeders but none are using them, should I be worried?

 

[oldiron56]

What did you start the hive from ? nuc ? split? package ?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Pete

 

[Beeonefarms]

All 3 have feeders but none are using them, should I be worried?[/QUOTE]

Hmm did they get robbed to death... ahh the joys of front feeders

 

[Tenbears]

If they have feeders and are not using them the are gathering nectar. they may not be gathering enough to store depending on your flow and colony strength. if they had been robbed there would be dead bees outside the hive, as well as inside.

As for the hive without eggs it can take from 3 to 7 days for the queen to be bred, and as many as 3 more for her to begin laying. If you do not see eggs within 10 days of finding the open queen cells you need to act. keep an eye on that hive, If you have frames of brood you can spare with some eggs on them I would add one to help prevent a laying worker. This will serve double duty. As If they do not build queen cells on it then you know you have a queen in the hive

 

[cbf89]

I started the 2 hives from packages, the nuc was split from the 2 hives. One hive was queenless from the start so I swapped a frame of brood and they built queen cells. I ordered a new queen and before installing her I removed the frame with queen cells, and took a frame of honey/brood from the other hive, and put them in a nuc as a backup incase the killed the new queen. I know it was way to early for a split.

And now that "other hive" hive has apparently superseded. I know it's common.



Not front feeders. They are mason jar feeders built into the outer cover. I would also think it was robbing if one hive suddenly had tons of stores, but they are all just as dry. Maybe it's just too many young bees and not enough foragers.



I don't really have any brood to swap over right now. The nuc just started laying, and the hive I requeened is pretty weak. Actually the eggs and brood in that hive are pretty thin.