no brood or eggs
hi everyone, had a very quick first look inside my hives today as sunny and 9degrees
bees very active flying and bringing in pollen ,5-6 frames of bees in
each hive lots of stores but almost no brood and couldnt see any
eggs, saw queen in one hive , all look very well, is it just too early
and too cold or has something gone wrong, any thoughts gladly received.
Thanks
Right now I would be inclined to blame the weather with the caveat that it's very difficult to say with any certainty at this time.
My own hives are a very mixed bag at the moment, the ones I expected to be doing OK are doing just that and the ones I expected to struggle by either going into winter as very small colonies and/or not having a well mated queen in the sad excuse of a summer last year looking like they are struggling.
That you report 5-6 frames of bees does suggest to me that the lack of eggs/brood in any quantity might be more a reflection of the relatively mild weather going very cold over the last month or so. I've not yet managed to look into any of mine, but at the moment I'd be surprised to find brood in any great quantity in any of the colonies. While they all still have fondant, I'm not seeing much outside the hives, in addition to the temperature, to encourage colonies to lay in any great quantity at the moment.
no brood or eggs
Hi Andy
Haven't a clue what's going on in mine as I don't lift any frames until it is about 15C. Actually I do know there's a little brood rearing from looking at the floor insert under the open mesh floor.
There ought to be a little brood by now, but there's nothing you can do anyway so why risk the colony by looking in now? They may yet come right, you never know.
In this weather I may very rarely gently, carefully and briefly lift the crown board to see the state of the stores in the colonies living off frames on stores. Those with fondant just get the roof lifted briefly.
G.
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There are advantages in having a polycarbonate or glass corwn board.Originally Posted by gavin
Out of interest, do many people use them (or glass) throughout the year with wooden hives? If so, is condensation an issue, or is that another myth.
Myth.
Most of mine have polycarbonate crownboards with insulation on top. Many have no holes, simply a single sheet. All have insulation on top, usually a block of Kingspan. None have condensation ... other than the Paynes nucs which have a hopelessly thin roof.
This winter I've built some 'reversible' polycarbonate crown boards with a deep lip on one side. Used deep side up, so to speak, the space is filled with insulation. When inverted there's space for about 4-6kg of fondant and the insulation goes on top. No condensation issues either way up.
Other than the poly nucs all my hives are wood.
You do get condensation with glass I even get it on the inside of the car windscreen.
no brood or eggs
I did get condensation with mine until I added a load of insulation on top and now no condensation. I think there is a basic science lesson in there somewhere.
Yup the insulation is telling you something.
No eggs or brood... well there's a surprise. It's still winter yet, so that is pretty much what I would expect to see.
Patience.
PH
E P Jeffree studied colony size in Winter 1958
This was the Aberdeen Area and they were researching the effects of nosema
What they found was there could be brood in the hive at any time during the Winter
This wasn't confined to any particular months and wouldn't be replicated in other hives
Which just means there can be some brood in any given hive in any Winter month.
I take his word for it without opening hives in snow etc
So a very useful observation by you andy
I wouldn't worry if there was no eggs everything is most likely fine.
Last edited by The Drone Ranger; 19-03-2013 at 05:37 PM. Reason: year
Indeed, exactly so. Too early to be digging about in colonies yet awhile.
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