brood pattern ?

[Kathyp]

one of my wintered over hives is off to a slow start.  i had thought they might be queenless, but i spotted her today.  her brood pattern is not horrible, but not great.  might it be because it's early and she just started laying again, or should i just knock her off and let them requeen?  i have another hive that is slow building up, so i'm wondering if it's just to early to be concerned?  providing she's the same queen, she's starting her 2nd year and was good last year.

[Robo]

If it is that early, there is probably not sufficient drones available to mate a new queen if you let them re-queen themselves.  I would give her some time,  I've had many queens that seems spotty in early Spring that turn out to be excellent performers.

[KONASDAD]

she will only lay in relation to her resources. These include food and available bees to cover brood. Give her some time. If she continues to lag behind, take some brood and eggs from your STRONG hive for them to make a queen, so your not breeding an inferior queen from weak hive or buy queen and install in a controlled manner.

[Kathyp]

thanks, that's the direction i was leaning, but didn't want to do like last year and have to requeen late.  i spotted drones while i was working out there, but not many.  

food should not be an issue.  they have syrup and pollen patties in addition to what they are starting to bring in.  good idea on the brood from another hive.  if i kill her, i'll make sure to wait a few days and then give them brood from the exploding hive  :-).  i have already used some from that hive to make sure that they had resources to requeen if they didn't have one.

[Cindi]

Kathy, just hold on, give her a chance, it is still early in the season.  As Konasdad said, the queen only lays what amounts the bees figure out they can safely look after, they govern the queen, mostly.  The norm is for the bees to raise small patches of brood, as that brood hatches out the brood amounts get larger, give her a bit of a chance, if she is still laying in spotty patterns, I would purchase a new queen.  Save yourself about a month's time by a new queen.  A new queen will be proven as a good layer, that is the way I would go.  Beautiful day, beautiful life, Cindi

[Kathyp]

thanks cindi.  i will just keep an eye on things.  if all goes well, i am going to be taking 2 hives out of a barn soon.  it's just weather that's holding up the show.  that will give me more options.
don't know about buying queens.  did that last year and they didn't do well.  hate to waste the money.  you are right though, it does take time to get a queen raised and going....

[mark]

when you let a colony requeen it's always a good idea to start a nuc with the old queen that is still laying if you have the equipment.  that way she is still in reserve if needed and you have brood to boost that or any other colony.  too many people are too quick to kill a queen or cut queen cells. 

[Understudy]

Brood patterns coming out of winter may not be the best. Once the weather has been warmer longer see if the pattern is better.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[tngold]

I agree with mark the old queen can still bee of help. I use any spare queens in nucs for doner hives. Its always better to have one or two extra just in case something happens. the extra brood from 8 of these doner hives can also be used to start another hive pretty easy, just put 2 brood frames from each, and before long you will have a productive hive.    Save the queens!

[Brian D. Bray]

My question is what strain of bees?  Russians and Carni's will be slower than Italians and their offshoots.  Feed them a bit and check back in a week.  They should be bringing in plenty of pollen right now, so that shouldn't be the issue.  Nectar sources can be as pollen and nectar abundance don't always go hand in hand, especially in the earlier later parts of the season.