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Why are the bees eating up the brood if they have pollen?!?
FloridaGardener:
Guesses?
Colony 1
2 month old queen, doing well. Awesome temperament.
Inside-the-rim quart-jar feeder 1:1
August, rainy
7 frames of bees including adequate pollen
No beesrobbing
Inside-the-rim quart-jar feeder
I add a frame of mostly capped brood with only nurses (I allowed flyoff time for any working bees to leave)
Suddenly Q's dead and they're making queen cells
Have eaten 5 frames of brood and only capped brood remains.
Colony 2
7 frames of Brood pulled from hot hive
Day 5, QC removed. All brood was eaten.
5 frames of bees including small amt of pollen
Lots of honey & a little open nectar
August, rainy
No beesrobbing
Colony 3
20 frames bees
Empty brood nest with polished cells
Lots of stores
No eggs, no brood
Q visible
... on this one I guess Q ran out of eggs...
salvo:
Hi FG,
A few years ago I had hives located in another town. I'd see the hives on Mondays and Thursdays after work. I'd see brood and eggs on one day, and none in the same place the next. Noticed good laying patterns,... then nothing.
I lingered for a while at the hive and saw the reason.
A small number of yellow jackets were "farming" my hive! They did not kill the queen nor apparently fight and kill many workers that I noticed. Only a few yj would casually zip in, do their dirty-work, and fly out.
I took those hives to my home. Problem solved.
That was my problem. Yours might not be the same.
Sal
BeeMaster2:
It can also bee Bull Ants. Look at your hives at night.
Jim Altmiller
FloridaGardener:
I'd suspect some kind of predator but
(1) we have no yellow jackets here in NW Florida. At least, I've never seen one in 13 yrs mo has any other gardening friend. I have seen european hornets but usually the bees cook them. Maybe the nuc was too weak and...but one has a plastic robbing screen and I doubt the hornet can fit inside the gate.
(2) These two colonies are a mile apart.
(3) My friend 3 miles away said in July there was a TOTAL brood break for over 20 days. Meaning, no brood in ANY stage on inspection. Gave it time... now there's 4 full frames capped/emerging. Says the bees do that when they get mites, so the bees stop making a hatching place/breeding ground for mites. Also is a no-treatment beek like me.
No observable mites in my hives or in the west beetle traps...I will wait then and see what happens.
The15thMember:
--- Quote from: FloridaGardener on August 27, 2022, 04:06:27 pm ---(3) My friend 3 miles away said in July there was a TOTAL brood break for over 20 days. Meaning, no brood in ANY stage on inspection. Gave it time... now there's 4 full frames capped/emerging. Says the bees do that when they get mites, so the bees stop making a hatching place/breeding ground for mites. Also is a no-treatment beek like me.
No observable mites in my hives or in the west beetle traps...I will wait then and see what happens.
--- End quote ---
If that's the case, that's phenomenal!
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