Inspection / Possible Queen Problem

With some strains of bees, the queen will slow or stop laying when there is little nectar available.

That happens in July / August in parts of the country.

If it's getting dry where you live, I wouldn't be alarmed about seeing no eggs/larvae, particularly since both hives are showing the same.

Regarding the queen cells, -- if your hove is overflowing with bees, and the brood nest is filled with nectar with very few or no empty cells for your queen to lay in, they may be preparing to swarm. If that's the case, splitting your hive by putting one deep with a brood frames on a separate bottom board and putting a lid on it will prevent swarming. Make sure that there is at least one fram with queen cells on it in each deep. This is called a "split".

If there are no signs of swarming, it's likely the bees are superceding a failing queen.
In that case do nothing-- the bees will raise a new queen, she'll mate with your local drones, and you are likely to get a better queen the one bought from far away.

At least that's been my experience.

MichaelPaul said:

During my inspection today of hive #1, I did not see any signs of a queen (no eggs or larva). I did notice brood and a few queen cells. A couple in the middle of the frame and a few were at the bottom of the bottom box. Same thing with the three frame nuc minus the queen cells.Thoughts on what I did or what should be my next steps? When I should inspect again? Thanks!

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Hive #1 could have swarmed. Like Michael said, many bees shut/slow down brood production this time of year. Most of my established hives do this time of year.

Since it appears the old queen appears to be gone, I tend to think swarm. Usually, with a supercedure, the new queen hatches and is possibly laying, then the old queen is disposed of. It appears that might not be the case. Hard to say.

Could very well be a supercedure. Seems like my bees backfill the brood nest prior to swarming. In any case, I would check back in a week for eggs, but it will probably be two weeks before you see any eggs/larvae. Since you saw a queen hatching, I would not be too concerned.

With the nuc, it is hard to say. How did you make your split? Queen cell, mated queen, virgin queen? Or did you let the nuc raise their own queen?

Most of the time, 1-3 cells says supercedure. Swarms tend to make many queen cells. That is not always the case. I have seen hives swarm after making two queen cells.

HTH,
Shane

First the Nuc, You did not say what you did as far as a queen for the nuc when you started it. did You add a bred queen? Were they to build a queen? Did They? did you see a queen in the nuc, or cells, or evidence of a queen at any point.
Watch the nuc if you put a frame in it with eggs, or newly hatched larva. and the bees have no queen they will within a couple days begin queen cells.

The same is true of the hive. The only problem with the hive is you may have a virgin queen in that hive or a newly bred queen. the bees although they know they have a queen may think she is failing or poor and attempt to supersede her. Just has your queen gets producing good a newly emerged nimble virgin kills or injures her. For that reason I like to make sure that a hive does not have a queen before adding brood in such a situation. A close and thorough examination Including the inside of the box itself in necessary. Many times I have had hives with no brood, no eggs, a few old empty queen cells and have not seen a queen. (who know why, Maybe I just missed the smaller Virgin, Or Maybe she was on a breeding flight.) Upon a subsequent inspection a week later I would find a strong brood pattern, with ample eggs. At times being pro active can be a trouble maker. Reviewing the situation, and contemplating all possible scenarios and possibilities before acting can save a lot of problems.