[snackman508]

winterizing but found no brood. is this normal? should i be worried? honey stores are low as well so i started feeding.
thanks for helping a newbe

 

[JWPalmer]

Very normal where you are not to have brood in November. This has been a warm fall though and many strong hives are still rearing some brood. During this warm spell, feed the bees as much as they will take. I just dumped another gallon of 2:1 on all my hives today, which should boost their stores by about 10# per hive.

 

[sjj]

winterizing but found no brood. is this normal? should i be worried? ...

The probability of having brood_minimum = zero around the 11th of November is very high.

 

[Steve in PA]

You are a little south of me. I was in 3 hives to move them late last week. Only one had a small patch of brood. If yours are broodless it is a great time to do your fall/winter mite treatment.

 

[Mud Songs]

I have had colonies with no brood present as early as October. I live on the island of Newfoundland, but it seems that depending on genetics, some queens shut down earlier than others. It doesn't necessarily mean a queenless colony.

 

[GregV]

so i started feeding.

In the future, start your feeding in September (for sure in October as the last resort) - for PA.

NOT in November - this is really too late to be feeding liquids to build up the missing winter stores (you are creating new problems vs. solving the existing problems).
If still too light on the stores now - consider just using hard feed later in the season OR distribute ready honey frames if have them available. Giving low amounts of liquid as ongoing support is OK, for as long as they take it. Dumping high volumes of liquid now - too late.