[jrose1970]

Hey everyone,
Do queens sometimes quit laying for a couple of weeks and then start back? I was thinking that, in a small colony, she may feel that there are not enough nurse bees to keep the eggs warm and wait for more to hatch before she continues laying. My reasoning may be wrong though. I have had two hives that fooled me into thinking that they were queenless. LOL.
Thanks in advance.

 

[Rader Sidetrack]

Laying of eggs is not entirely a queen's decision. Brood cells need to be cleaned/prepared by workers before the queen can lay eggs in them. If workers are busy doing something else, and don't prepare cells - no new eggs.

Also, to certain extent, the nurse bees can control a queen laying by the amount of royal jelly that they feed her. Less royal jelly is likely to result in less egg laying.

 

[beepro]

I have never seen a queen to suddenly quit laying while the hive
is on a flow. I made very weak 3 to 4 frames nuc splits. But I
have the Italians-Cordovan crossed so not sure what bees you have.
Cover or not she still laying that the workers not seem to care
but try their best to feed the newly developing larvae. Small chunk
of bees can feed lots of larvae. We're in
the late Spring now so the temp. is at 90s consistently.