There's only a cluster about the size of a large orange in there, split between maybe 3 frames. I kept thinking the population would grow...Not enough bees to brood is my guess. How many frames of bees are left?
Sounds like you don't have enough bees to start the queen to laying. There has to be enough bees to cover the brood before she will lay. Your SHB problem is probably because you have more open comb that the bees can police. Take out some of the empty comb and replace it with undrawn foundation, and if you have another hive that is strong take a couple frames of brood complete with house bees and install them in the weak hive. also shake at least an extra frame of nurse bees in to give them an extra boost. Make sure you don't accidently get the queen from the donor hive!Mostly newbie here; I had three hives for 2 years before a wild cutout infested me with SHB. Now I'm struggling to keep one hive alive. They survived the winter but they are very sluggish. No eggs, only 5 capped cells. The queen had a good laying pattern last year, and while the hive never thrived, they did well enough to survive this winter's multiple polar vortexes.
They have been on sugarwater and pollen patties for a month now; temps generally around mid 50s during the day. There is some stored honey and some stored pollen, but mostly fully drawn, empty cells.
I removed the oil trap from the bottom board, thinking that maybe the bees didn't like their environment. It is the only thing keeping the SHB in check though, so it makes me very nervous to do so.
Open cells look somewhat dirty (looks like tiny bits of beeswax inside them? Thought maybe I had a drone layer but the queen is still around); no queen cells in evidence.
Should I requeen? I'm down to very few bees at this point and I'm wondering if my queen is not laying because
a) it's too early
b) the bees are unhappy
c) she was poorly mated and is out of eggs
I'd hate to order a new queen and then have this hive suddenly be fine after all.
Experienced beekeepers: what would you do?
Thank you!
Local extension service and Craigslist....pronto, because time is ticking away. The sooner you get more bees or a queen, the better chance you have. Also, go to you local feed store or city hall and ask if they know any beeks.Aw, man. It is my only hive, and Wilbanks isn't shipping bees any more this year. I don't know any local beekeepers... I'm sure there are some but I don't know where to start (I'm between DC and Baltimore). Any ideas where to look? Maybe my extension service would know?
I will reduce the entrance like you said, and the hive space as well, and then cross my fingers that I can find a frame of capped brood and some extra bees to go with it.![]()