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Author Topic: Hive not playing new eggs  (Read 1103 times)

Offline TheFuzz

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Hive not playing new eggs
« on: June 15, 2020, 06:58:49 pm »
I had some beehives at a location for six years, they were doing well the first few years but the last few years they haven't been producing nor losing honey. This year has been different though, they're eating more than they're producing, so I decided to move the hives to a better location.

One hive there was a hive that I collected from a beeswarm, either 8 months or 16 months ago I can't quite recall. I decided to open up this hive and to my surprise, I couldn't find any eggs! I then assumed that the hive didn't have a queen, so I went looking for eggs in other hives to find to give them to this hive, to try and save the colony by giving them an ability to make a new queen. To my shock, having looked at three other hives, I still couldn't find any eggs! I looked at the brood chamber and the box above the brood chamber, in the centre of the hive and I couldn't find any eggs!

I was perplexed. I decided to open up the hive again that I was seeking eggs for, and then I stumbled upon the queen as I was doing so. I took some photos, and circled the queen:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/ScMmYJb

I see now that it was a mistake to assume that no eggs meant no queen.

I'm concerned for this hive, it's very low on bees and well, everything, and here in Australia we're going into winter. This looks like it might be the coldest winter in Australia for quite some time, there's been a few nights where it's gotten a few degrees below the freezing point, which is unusual for this time of year, that usually happens at the peak of winter and doesn't happen every year.

I'd appreciate some advice. Should I feed these bees some sugar? I did have a super on top of this box but it's empty and I think I should remove it to help keep them warm. Should I be concerned about my other hives not having eggs as well? The other hives have a decent amount of bees, and some brood, just no sign of eggs being laid.

Offline Robo

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Re: Hive not playing new eggs
« Reply #1 on: June 15, 2020, 09:28:28 pm »
Yup, there are many reasons a queen right hive may not have eggs, so that is a bad assumption.   I have seen many beekeepers jump to that conclusion and waste money buying a replacement queen only to have her killed.    I'm not familiar with your climate but it sounds like you are heading into winter,  and the fact that you say they have not been producing much honey may be due to the fact that the area has limited nectar.   One reason for queens to stop laying is no nectar flow (why raise bees if there is no nectar to feed them).    The odds for a hive to make it through winter are not that great if they have not raised enough fat winter bees to sustain them until spring.   The best you can do is feed them and hope,  or combine them with a stronger hive.
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Offline Garigal

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Re: Hive not playing new eggs
« Reply #2 on: June 16, 2020, 06:45:57 am »
I'd appreciate some advice. Should I feed these bees some sugar? I did have a super on top of this box but it's empty and I think I should remove it to help keep them warm. Should I be concerned about my other hives not having eggs as well? The other hives have a decent amount of bees, and some brood, just no sign of eggs being laid.

How did the hive smell? Those brood frames don't look good to me, the first thing I'd be doing is testing for AFB & EFB and reporting it to your DPI so you can contain it if that's what it is.

Not sure why the other hives aren't laying, is there anything flowering near you atm? If all the hives have no stores and just empty supers then I'd be reducing them down to one or two boxes and feeding as needed so they don't starve.

Offline Oldbeavo

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Re: Hive not playing new eggs
« Reply #3 on: June 16, 2020, 07:07:27 am »
How much honey is in the hive?
Our bees in Victoria, Australia are very similar as far as eggs go. There has not been a nectar flow for many weeks and so the queens have shut down on the laying.
We added  2 frames of honey to some of our lighter hives last week and saw very little brood.
If they have very little honey and you don't have any spare then you will need to feed them.
Your queen is OK as she has thinned down a bit with her ovaries shutting down.
You could also consider packing them down for the rest of winter, a lot of our hives are in singles for winter.

 

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