Hello
I wondered if there was any advice about this?
Yesterday was the first warm day here in Ullapool so I was able to have a look in the hives. Two are doing well, loads of bees and stores and capped brood and lavas.
Number three looks very sad. Lots of stores but very few bees. I assumed that the queen had not made it through the winter, but to my surprise there she was walking around on a frame of empty cells. She was a new queen last year, and had been laying last year so must have mated. She was marked and looks just fine.
I moved a frame of honey to face onto the frame the queen was on and put a frame of capped brood from one of the other hives, hoping some newly hatched bees might boost the numbers and stimulate her maternal instincts!
Can I do anything else? I suspect this colony will die but don't understand why the queen is not laying.
Thanks