What happen to my eggs and capped brood?

[billdean]

I opened up one of my over winter hives and found the queen had laid a full medium frame of eggs on the first frame, frame #1. A week latter I went in again and all the eggs were gone expect for a small area in the middle of the frame and they had capped that. Today I pulled frame #1 and everything was gone and they were filling it with nectar. What happen to my eggs and brood in less than 2 weeks?

[TheHoneyPump]

I opened up one of my over winter hives and found the queen had laid a full medium frame of eggs on the first frame, frame #1. A week latter I went in again and all the eggs were gone expect for a small area in the middle of the frame and they had capped that. Today I pulled frame #1 and everything was gone and they were filling it with nectar. What happen to my eggs and brood in less than 2 weeks?

Q1:  How old is this queen?  If an old queen, her eggs may not be viable.  The bees remove and eat dud eggs. If old or poorly mated she may have gone drone layer.  Too early in the season the bees do not want drones.  The bees may remove and eat drone eggs until there are enough amounts of resources coming in.
Q2:  Look for evidence of brood diseases or pms.  Is there something killing the brood causing them to remove it?
Q3:  Mites; what is the mite load in the hive?  What controls have you implemented?
Q4:  How many bees are in the hive?  Are there enough bees to look after the brood?  All that the queen does is lay the eggs.  The bees do everything else.  If the queen outlays the capacity of the bees, the bees will remove and eat the excess eggs and larvae that they cannot look after.
Q5:  What is the resources level in the hive?  Do they have plenty of pollen in stores or coming in from foraging? When food is shorted, the bees cut back on the brood - eating the eggs and the larvae.

Hope that helps!

[BeeMaster2]

THB,
Q2:  Look for evidence of brood diseases or pms.  Is there something killing the brood causing them to remove it?

Look at the color of the wet brood. Is it real white and glistening or is it brownish and dull. Brownish and dull is your indicator of disease or the brood is getting chilled. This can be especially true on frame number one. If your nights are chilly, the bees are clustering and the brood on this frame is being exposed to cold air and is chilled.
Jim Altmiller

[Michael Bush]

Was there a cold snap?  Sometimes the brood gets chilled and then removed.

[billdean]

Was there a cold snap?  Sometimes the brood gets chilled and then removed.

Yes, of course. This is Michigan. Ultimately I believe this to be the reason, but the 2nd year queen has to be stupid to lay in the frame next to the outside wall when there is/were many frames to the interior of the hive plus above. You would think she would no that's supposed to be a honey frame.
I have found no disease. Test done through Beltsville confirm no mites or disease. The hive has a lot of bees. Pollen coming in by the pounds and they have honey.

[Michael Bush]

>Yes, of course. This is Michigan. Ultimately I believe this to be the reason, but the 2nd year queen has to be stupid to lay in the frame next to the outside wall

Queens don't decide where to lay.  The workers do.  They open up cells by removing nectar or close them off by putting nectar or honey in the cell (sometimes just a drop or two).  Some bees make poor decisions and some get lucky.  Actually, what did they lose?  If there was no cold snap they might have gotten a real jump on things.  Since there was, they just removed them.

[billdean]

>Yes, of course. This is Michigan. Ultimately I believe this to be the reason, but the 2nd year queen has to be stupid to lay in the frame next to the outside wall

Queens don't decide where to lay.  The workers do.  They open up cells by removing nectar or close them off by putting nectar or honey in the cell (sometimes just a drop or two).  Some bees make poor decisions and some get lucky.  Actually, what did they lose?  If there was no cold snap they might have gotten a real jump on things.  Since there was, they just removed them.

Michael???leave it to you to make since out of everything! Thanks for your help and everyones replies. Learning new things! Someday I may become a real beekeeper! But then again its fun to come on here and allow some to learn with me.