Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: thomas on October 21, 2013, 05:46:45 pm
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Hello i have two hives that were doing well all summer long and making honey real good and the past few weeks they have stoped laying checked today and no brood or eggs they have gone into a winter cluster. They are still working aster and pollen still coming in but they are not laying the others are still going strong laying why are these two not laying what can i do to get them back going i am feeding one to try to get her going they both have plenty of stores.
Thomas
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Not all bees dance to the same tune. Chances are good that there were some brood in that cluster described. How big was it? Estimate the number of bees.
What was the temp when the checking was done? 50's will put some colonies into cluster while others are acting like the temp doesn't bother them. IMO; I think the number of bees present in the colony may have much to do about whether a colony clusters at a 'specific' temp.....to a point
That all said; its normal for things to "slow" down for bees in October, even in Virginia :) Try not to worry too much, bees really do know what they're doing :-D.
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I am near Roanoke, VA.
Two 8 frame medium hives, 3 deep with plenty of stores.
One queen ceased laying 3 weeks ago -- no capped brood. But queenright.
The other queen was laying until recently--about 4 frames of capped brood.
It may not be the difference, but the laying queen is in a dark green hive, the non-layer in light tan.
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I doubt the color of you hives has anything to do with queen laying.
Q; How do you know the colony in question is queenright? If not laying she is queenwrong ;) and you 'might' have a problem, although bees slow down , some even stop laying as winter approaches.
Q; If bees are in cluster how do you know there is no capped brood? The cluster may be hiding it, that is very likely.
Advise; If feeding hives in a yard especially during Fall, either feed them all or make certain entrances are reduced or you may find one has robbed out the other.
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Thank you guys for the advice i see they are in a cluster but they are still all over the hive i did not bother them but my others are working like crazy even the other hive is starting to bring in pollen but this one is not doing nothing but bees will be bees i see no decline in population. The cluster seems to be in two deeps all on one side but plenty of honey so i am going to wait it seems they knew this cold front was coming and i think thats why they stopped laying.
Thomas
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I always go by the bees - they seem to know best. It is about the right time of year for them to shut down brood production.