Queen present but no brood - what do I do ?

Hello,

Hoping someone can help me please.

A few weeks ago part of my hive swarmed but on inspection a queen and queen cells were still present in the hive. I decide to leave alone for the next three weeks to give them time to re-establish, rightly or wrongly ? Yesterday I opened up the hive and a queen was present, plenty of activity from the bees present but no brood. I'm now concerned i will lose what is left unless the queen starts laying and i'm unsure of what I should do. Any pointers / assistance would be gratefully received, cheers Julie

Hi Julie,

I am glad to hear the queen is in residence. We've had some good weather so her chances of successful mating is good. I would give her another 2 weeks before getting concerned. Some girls just take their time.

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Originally Posted by Julie Seago

Hello,

Hoping someone can help me please.

A few weeks ago part of my hive swarmed but on inspection a queen and queen cells were still present in the hive. I decide to leave alone for the next three weeks to give them time to re-establish, rightly or wrongly ? Yesterday I opened up the hive and a queen was present, plenty of activity from the bees present but no brood. I'm now concerned i will lose what is left unless the queen starts laying and i'm unsure of what I should do. Any pointers / assistance would be gratefully received, cheers Julie

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If you've seen the queen then leave then to it. It can take a couple of weeks for a new queen to come into lay. If you have another hive then putting a frame of brood, no bees, into the hive can sometimes kick start her into laying but generally she will sort herself out. Also don't worry if you see multiple eggs with a new queen. As long as eggs are at the bottom of the cells then its a new queen kicking into action.

Hi Janeoh,

Thank you so much for the advice and will hang on a bit longer as suggested.

Hi Neils,

Thanks for the advice and reassurance, that all makes sense and will check again in a couple of weeks, fingers crossed.

Was the old queen marked - so you can identify whether you have a fresh shiny new one or not? (Occasionally there will be both, until the new one starts to lay).
A newly mated queen can start to lay after a couple of days in a little mini-nuc. It can take a couple of weeks after mating for a queen to start with a full-sized colony.

Hi Adam,

Thanks for your reply. The original queen went with the swarm so no the queen we saw was not marked but the plan will be to find the new queen the next time we open up the hive and provided we have one to get her marked.

Thanks once again