[NSNaturals]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to this forum, I am a first year beekeeper in Nova Scotia Canada.

I recently encountered a problem when I checked my hives yesterday (October 3rd). Winter is coming up around where I live and I recently ran into a problem. I have two hives, one I treated for varroa two weeks ago is doing great now, the other one I thought I didn't have to treat due to the varroa seemed minimal. But when I check yesterday there was a lot more varroa there then there was two weeks ago also the hive looked queenless...:shock: I couldn't find her anywhere and there was no any eggs or larva only some capped brood.

Only owning two hives, what do you think should I do?

 

[Barbarian]

Welcome to the forum. :hi:

You are a little bit out of my area. Keep watching, this thread will be red hot with helpful posts. You will have to be ready for some fact searching questions.

 

[ApisBees]

Welcome to the forum, You are in Perrybee's neck of the woods. Getting to this time of year and in thew area you are in the and the fact the night time temp;s are getting close to freezing the colony may have shut down brood rearing already. gifferent genetics could explain the one queen completely shutting down ans the other still laying a bit.

 

[NSNaturals]

Thanks for the welcome! Perrybee is who I have bought my nucs from and has helped me a lot by teaching me about beekeeping. When does a queen typically stop laying? Is it when the nectar flow slows to a stop?? or is it more based on the temperature during the day/night?

 

[riverrat]

Welcome to the forum. Glad to see more people from the Tundra division. Perry is the go to guy on the forum from Nova Scotia. He can probably give you the most accurate advise. I would say you are probably not queenless. With winter coming on and the nectar flow over the queen has shut down the laying. How was you checking for mites. Mite counts during checks will vary day to day. This is why you should do your checks over several days and do an average.

 

[ApisBees]

Thanks for the welcome! Perrybee is who I have bought my nucs from and has helped me a lot by teaching me about beekeeping. When does a queen typically stop laying? Is it when the nectar flow slows to a stop?? or is it more based on the temperature during the day/night?

All the above and more, race and genetics of bees. Accessibility to the nectar and pollen, so rainy windy weather can even keep the bees from accessing the flow and depending on the queens and her progeny can cease queen rearing while other hives will continue to raise brood till the weather turns cold.

 

[NSNaturals]

Thanks for all the advice it helps a lot, I'll have to check again to see if the hive in truly queenless and decide if I should treat the hive for varroa or not.

 

[ApisBees]

This thread is along the same topic as yours. some posted may help in identifying whether the hive is queen right or not.
http://www.beekeepingforums.com/threads/10735-End-of-a-Hive

 

[efmesch]

Welcome HS to our (and your) best beekeeping forum. :hi:
Re. your questions. In addition to what the others have said, I would add:
1. Another factor that can influence the queen's cessation of laying is the process of day shortening.
2. As a general rule,I would suggest that, if one hive needs treatment against varroa, give it to them all. A small infestation that is left untreated can serve as a speedy method of re-infecting the hive that you did treat.
3.You are a lucky man to have Perry nearby. Make good use of him in learning the practical aspects of beekeeping. Try to join him a few times on his inspectionsl You'll gain a wealth of information.

 

[PerryBee]

I have been in contact with NSNatural as this has progressed, and suggested he post on the forum to get additional ideas on how best to proceed. I was through these hives with him around 2 weeks ago when we treated the one hive for mites. Both hives looked good so I am concerned that this may be more than a queen simply shutting down. All of my hives are still brooding up, no shut down yet.
NSNatural, was this the hive that you found the cover off, leaning against the tree, and the entrance reducer moved as well? I hope nothing nefarious has happened.

 

[riverrat]

If you have a another hive you could rob a frame with eggs from for a few days. You could put the frame in the hive you believe is queenless. If they start a queen cell it will answer your question and give you some direction on what you need to do.

 

[kebee]

Welcome NSNatural, glad you are with us on the forum, sure hope everything turns out ok for you.

Ken

 

[NSNaturals]

NSNatural, was this the hive that you found the cover off, leaning against the tree, and the entrance reducer moved as well? I hope nothing nefarious has happened.

No that hive that I found with the cover off was doing fine, it was the other one that seemed queenless.

 

[NSNaturals]

Just for a little update on this situation, I went to go check my hives again two days ago just to be certain there was no queen. Perrybee suggested that I take a frame out of my other hive that has eggs on it into the other hive and if the 'queenless' hive tries to raise a queen then she is truly gone. When looking for eggs in the hive that has a queen she was only laying on two frames in my top super, but there was about 6-8 frames in my brood chamber that was totally empty...

Does anybody have any idea why she would do this, it seems that laying eggs down there would be the best spot especially where the two frames above that she was laying on was surrounded by honey so she doesn't even have a full frame to lay on.

​Anybody have any ideas on what might be going on?

 

[ApisBees]

This is natural as the bees slow down brood production in the hives. In another couple of weeks the brood could be at 0 frames or just a small patch at the center of where the bees are clustering.

 

[NSNaturals]

So what about the comb that's in the bottom chamber, will that just remain empty?

 

[ApisBees]

As the bees back fill the space where the brood is now with honey as the brood emerges the bees may move down there to form their winter cluster of they may just not bother filling the last of the brood space and keep their cluster there. At this time of year I let then arrange things the way they choose and don't question it to much.

 

[NSNaturals]

My other hive (queenless one) has already done this, with full stores of honey on top and plenty of bees is it possible that she has stopped laying? Even though Preeybee and I live in the same area and his queens are still laying.

 

[ApisBees]

Poaibaly but because the genetics are the same as Perry's I would think unlikely. when you go into the hive do the bees sound like they are buzzing by vibrating their bodies? go unto a queen right hive and you can hear the quietness of the hive. Then go into the queen less and if it is queen less you will hear the elevated buzz and the longer you stay in the hive the louder it will become.

 

[NSNaturals]

For as long as I had the hive open (about 20-30 minutes) the hive never appeared to get any louder. There is no drones in the hive as well, but it doesn't seem like my hive swarmed?