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44 Posts
Very tough winter here in Central NY. One of my hives came out of winter very weak. I have 2 maybe 3 frames worth of bees in there right now. The queen is present but it seems like she isn't laying very well at all. There are eggs present but spotty and not in the numbers I am used to seeing. There is capped brood, maybe a frame and a half total. They haven't really touched the sugar water but they have 6 frames full of honey in there right next to the cluster and you can see where they have scratched off cappings recently to eat some. My thinking is keep feeding and they will take it when they need it, and just sort of nurse them along. My other thought would be to kill this queen and let them requeen themselves. I don't know if there are enough bees in there for them to be able to do that. I also don't think there is enough capped brood available to replenish the number of bees that will die waiting for a new queen to start laying. Short of ordering another queen, I have no access to a new one. Thoughts? Suggestions?