[Kzibell086]

Noticed these today. Last week i added a medium super (haven’t touched yet) to a single deep brood and they didn’t move in at all. Any idea? there is still like 2 empty frames but some PACKED brood frames. Wasn’t feeding since flow started but added a quart of sugar syrup to help boost comb production.

 

[cconnell]

It can be difficult to get bees to move up to new foundation. There's not a problem. There is not much to attract then up. It takes time--patience is required. There are different ideas about this. Some say don't worry, the bees will move up when they are ready. Others say you should attract them up. Feeding can help, but be careful that the bees are not just filling up available comb that can be used for eggs with syrup. So, give your jar, and then check and see what they're doing.

Don't use a queen excluder, it will slow them down moving up. You can spray and wet some foundation with sugar syrup to attract them--they may or may not start building comb. The best thing is if you have drawn comb to draw them up. If this is a new hive this year, there isn't much swarm worry, the bees are still building thier home.

Be patient. Check them in a week.

 

[Kzibell086]

It can be difficult to get bees to move up to new foundation. There's not a problem. There is not much to attract then up. It takes time--patience is required. There are different ideas about this. Some say don't worry, the bees will move up when they are ready. Others say you should attract them up. Feeding can help, but be careful that the bees are not just filling up available comb that can be used for eggs with syrup. So, give your jar, and then check and see what they're doing.

Don't use a queen excluder, it will slow them down moving up. You can spray and wet some foundation with sugar syrup to attract them--they may or may not start building comb. The best thing is if you have drawn comb to draw them up. If this is a new hive this year, there isn't much swarm worry, the bees are still building thier home.

Be patient. Check them in a week.

Thanks for the reply i really appreciate it. What i’m concerned about is I wasn’t able to locate the queen (saw freshly capped brood and uncapped larva though but no eggs), and there were multiple queen cells. Most looked empty, but 2 or so looked closed up and one looked like it had a white blob in it.

 

[JWPalmer]

Need better pictures. Also noted comb damage from pulling frame. Good way to roll a queen. A queen cup is not a queen cell until there is a larva in it. Sounds like you saw at least one. I did not see much in the way of capped brood in the photos, other than a few drone cells in the second picture. Not good, imo. Please post a picture of one of the packed brood frames you saw. Bees will not draw much comb if there is not a laying queen in the hive. They need a reason beyond an ample supply of stores coming in.

 

[Kzibell086]

Need better pictures. Also noted comb damage from pulling frame. Good way to roll a queen. A queen cup is not a queen cell until there is a larva in it. Sounds like you saw at least one. I did not see much in the way of capped brood in the photos, other than a few drone cells in the second picture. Not good, imo. Please post a picture of one of the packed brood frames you saw. Bees will not draw much comb if there is not a laying queen in the hive. They need a reason beyond an ample supply of stores coming in.

After consulting with some other members, I’m starting to think the the queen died within the last 2 weeks (New capped brood and uncapped larva but no eggs) and the queen cells are in an attempt to replace it. 2 of the cells were completly closed off, and one had a larva in it.

The honey being rolled was kind of unavoidable. I went away for 2 weeks when the hive was only 5 frames in a deep and apparently the flow hit and they filled it all then cross combed it.

I was advised to just wait and see what happens. I can try to get some new pictures soon, but i was told they probably swarmed and that’s what’s left.

 

[AR1]

The hardest thing for me to do with bees is just leave them alone. If they are replacing a queen and have capped queen cells then IMO you should just leave them alone for a few weeks to get that job done. Maybe give them a frame of brood with some young brood if you are worried they might not get a queen with what they have.

Long time BEEKs, am I right? I know just enough to be dangerous.

 

[cconnell]

If there are no eggs--and you're certain--that's a pretty good indication that the queen is no longer there, or is not able to lay for some reason--no available space, for example. If you're checking for eggs, in my experience you have to check every possible egg laying place. The white blob you mention is royal jelly, and there is quite likely a larva floating on top of it. In the first photos it's not completely clear what I'm seeing--are those the cells you're talking about? They could be emergency queen cells, or drone cells-the angle isn't quite right. A clear photo or two of the capped queen cells would really help. If they are nicely formed cells, it's possible the hive did swarm, or there is a supersedure in progress. If they are more like emergency cells, then the queen was probably disabled or didn't survive for some reason, and they are now trying to replace her.

It's hard to know when the queen cells were capped, but it could be up to 8 days before a queen emerges, then usually around 10-14 days before she will start laying (could be less or more depending on weather and queen health). So in 18 - 22 days you could see eggs again.

It is really surprising how much can happen in two weeks if a flow is on.