[2tMonte]

• Russian hive started in mid-April from package
• Foundationless
• Queen seen and apparently healthy
• Two deep boxes filled with comb and one empty super
• Bottom deep box filled with bees, a little pollen, and normal drone brood on the outside frames
• Second deep box about 2/3 filled with honey
• Comb building completely stopped 3 weeks ago
• No SHB or Wax Moths detected
• Varroa is present but very negligible; 4 to 5 varroa on test board after 72 hours; no deformed wing virus detected
• One apparent supersedure cell and one apparent swarm cell both found on one frame
• Overall the hive is full and healthy but there is simply no worker brood

My questions/concerns are:

Has the hive simply gone into conservation mode due to the probability of a dearth?
Has the queen run out of sperm and simply cannot lay fertilized eggs?
If the queen has run out of sperm and the workers know it, should I simply let them develop those queen cells and take care of themselves or should I attempt to kill the current queen and re-queen?

 

[Billboard]

Russians cut back brood rearing during a dearth. Are you in a dearth? Try feeding and maybe try a pollen partty a small pcs. That should get het going. Mine did exactly that last year. Dont kill anything yet.

 

[2tMonte]

Russians cut back brood rearing during a dearth. Are you in a dearth? Try feeding and maybe try a pollen partty a small pcs. That should get het going. Mine did exactly that last year. Dont kill anything yet.

I don't really know if I am in a dearth or not but I presume that I am as there is little to no pollen arriving.

 

[Billboard]

You probably are. Most areas are dry. But that is a good thinh about russians they are frugal. Wair till spring they will explode with brood. Your queen should start laying again soon. The fall flow is around the corner. Now at that time if you notice no brood then maybe somethings wrong. Right now your queens just taking a break.