A BEE thread....for those interested in beekeeping.

[Lapeerian]

I can see some drone brood n the "queenless" colony which suggests she is either failing and unable to lay fertile eggs or you have a laying worker. This happens when there is no brood or queen pheromone in the hive to supress he workers from developing ovaries. It is very difficult to requeen a laying worker colony as they often kill the new queen, but they are doomed without one as the workers can only produce drones ad they are small ones anyway, because they are developed in worker cells. The colony needs workers to exist, so they eventually die out. Yes they will be producing honey because they have very little brood to rear... which eat up the nectar and pollen they forage.
The best thing to do is to tip/hake all the bees out of the hive and off the comb 40- 50 feet away and put a new hive box on the old site to catch the returning bees. At dusk, tip the bees from that box onto a ramp leading up to the other weak but queen right hive and hopefully they will integrate and make that one stronger.

I see 2 eggs in some of the cells = laying worker.

 

[noble]

They will only last as long as the lifespan of the current bees and brood. 

Be certain they are in fact queenless, check in a few days to see if there is any new uncapped brood.  You may be able to steal a frame of brood from each of the strong hives to keep them going, just remember it makes the strong hives weaker.  Best case scenario would be to find a swarm queen cell started in one of the strong hives.  Or the queenless hive may use some of the new uncapped brood to create their own.  Depends on the weather in your area also.  Here in NY there won't be any new mated queens yet, as there are no drones available to mate with.  So a new queen wouldn't help here. 
Just went to the Geneva Bee Conference last weekend, lots of good info.  In a situation like this, they also recommended combining weak hives so you don't ruin your strong hives.  This was more important during fall for winter prep. 
You are so close to April too.  Check any local beekeepers or clubs, someone may have new queens available quicker. 

thank u so much . I think I will try to shake them the 50 feet away and combine it with the small good hive with the laying queen. I have asked everywhere and this makes the most sense . Thank u for helping a new be.

 

[mamahmendez]

NO is that New Orleans? Where did u get the nuc from?

NO is for no, like none. I am in the Austin, TX area. I purchased our Nuc from Bee Weavers. I took a bee class there to in October. So far our hive looks good. 3 very full frames and 3 almost 1/2 full.

 

[Beekissed]

I can see some drone brood n the "queenless" colony which suggests she is either failing and unable to lay fertile eggs or you have a laying worker. This happens when there is no brood or queen pheromone in the hive to supress the workers from developing ovaries. It is very difficult to requeen a laying worker colony as they often kill the new queen, but they are doomed without one as the workers can only produce drones ad they are small ones anyway, because they are developed in worker cells. The colony needs workers to exist, so they eventually die out. Yes they will be producing honey because they have very little brood to rear... which eat up the nectar and pollen they forage.
The best thing to do is to tip/hake all the bees out of the hive and off the comb 40- 50 feet away and put a new hive box on the old site to catch the returning bees. At dusk, tip the bees from that box onto a ramp leading up to the other weak but queen right hive and hopefully they will integrate and make that one stronger.

When you tip them (I usually tip them onto an old sheet so that you can see them) the laying worker(s) will not be able to fly back to the hive, so the remaining bees that return to the old hive location are safe to give to another colony..... you don't want to risk the laying workers getting into the other hive, which is why you tip them out away from the hive first.

Good info!!!

 

[OEF5]

I've been a beekeeper for two years, and starting my third year! It's been a tough couple of years keeping my bees going through the winter, but I still have one hive going.

In the below picture you can see a nice plumb and almond tree in our orchard starting to bloom with the hives in the back, two langstroth hives that were dead outs in October of last year, that I over wintered there since I didn't have anymore room for storage! The other hive is a top bar hive that made it so far.




Girls coming an going



The plumb tree ready to open it's first blooms!

 

[Beekissed]

I find it interesting that your TBH made it through the winter and the Langs did not....do you have any ideas about that?

 

[OEF5]

Some. They were all strong in the summer, so we are thinking that my Varroa count got too high, or Yellow Jackets got them. So not sure.

 

[3goodeggs]

We will be requeening a hive soon.
It is surviving but not thriving.
I believe it is, at least, the second swarm for the old queen, if she is still there, The workers might have made a secondary queen.
We fed them all winter, and I think that is the only reason they are still there.

 

[Martlet]

Putting in my first two hives next month!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[BusyBlonde]

That's great! This is my third year of keeping bees, they are fascinating. I only had two colonies, we lost one over the winter (most likely due to moisture issues) but the other is strong and I may split it in another week or two, when it warms up enough to get into the hive again.