[ctbees]

Hi,

My wife and I are first year beekeepers.
We hived our packaged bees in late May. The hive seems to be doing ok, bees coming and going and and are calm when we examine the hive, but I feel that I may have had a bad queen and a new one was made. We did a hive inspection this weekend and the first hive body is about 80% full, with about 4 frames filled with white-capped honey, pollen and nectar in the rest, the outer two frames almost empty. The second box has about 3 frames with capped honey also. But I see no brown capped brood. There are a few here and there, but a small amount. My wife who has better eyes said she saw some eggs, but they were spotty, and not in a good pattern.

How should I proceed?

 

[Mike S]

I would wait a little bit and do another good inspection maybe in a couple weeks, if you saw eggs then there is a queen. You can requeen the hive anytime if you need to. Did you find an open queen cell? If they did make a new queen as you suspect it might take her a little time to get laying good. On the bottom box I would move the two outer frames with nothing in one to the inside.

 

[ctbees]

I would wait a little bit and do another good inspection maybe in a couple weeks, if you saw eggs then there is a queen. You can requeen the hive anytime if you need to. Did you find an open queen cell? If they did make a new queen as you suspect it might take her a little time to get laying good. On the bottom box I would move the two outer frames with nothing in one to the inside.

Thanks Mike,

I saw a few queen cells about a month ago, when I checked yesterday, they were gone or seemed to be broken and filled with honey. They seem very happy and are very active, so I am assuming that there is a queen present, but I could be wrong. I guess the presence of eggs is the best indicator. I will inspect again next week and do a real thorough check for eggs.