Queen not laying

[The Drone Ranger]

DR ... Ullapool ... I don't know the area but suspect that sexually mature drones are likely to be in short supply for the next month at least.

"very few bees" in the original post ... probably not enough to keep the larvae warm and they're old, old bees ...

if the sealed brood hatches there might be a chance
If the queen didn't lay at all during Winter I think there wouldn't be any bees left at all
So possibly she might stagger on for a little while
As SDM says shes not a drone layer
I have spent lots of effort on weak colonies and it seldom works out
I take it you think its hopeless fatshark

[RDMW]

Really appreciate all this expert advice. Thank you
I think the colony is going to fail, but am glad to know that I have not failed to do something which might have helped. I have two strong colonies so will prob do an artificial swarm later and get back to three, or catch a swarm.
Beautiful day here in the west and lots of flying


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[fatshark]

I take it you think its hopeless fatshark

I'm afraid so DR. Overwintering bees can last a long time - up to 9 months I think - so I don't necessarily think that a colony headed by a non-laying queen would have run out of bees by now. The amount of brood raised in the winter is generally pretty small, and if there's none sealed now she's not been laying for some time.

What's perhaps interesting is why she hasn't turned into a DLQ if she's poorly mated and run out of sperm?

I, too, have spent time and effort trying to save weak colonies (I may sound a heartless b**t**d but I'm not really) and have learned it's better to cut your losses. Taking brood from a colony developing well might save the colony ... but it might not and it's going to be ages to get a new queen mated. What it will do is weaken a colony at an important time in its development for this season. I'd prefer to have one colony bulging with bees (perhaps to break a nuc off later) than two weaker ones, one of which will probably be a basket case.

[The Drone Ranger]

Let us know how it goes anyway RDMW and whether the sealed brood hatches

[Jon]

I squished a queen last week which had not started to lay and replaced her with one from an Apidea.
The new one started to lay as soon as they had released her from the cage.
It is more usual to come across drone layers in spring but this one had no brood at all.

[alclosier]

Fatshark is right probably not worth the effort. I'll probably do as he suggests this week unless there is a dramatic turn around.

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[The Drone Ranger]

Hi Jon
You chaps are way ahead of me
I haven't done any inspections just a quick peek in the top
This is a tricky time if you have a problem there are not many options
I have a few spare queens in keilers which is fine but you need enough bees left to do something with
I dont know if RDMW is going to be lucky and get that sealed brood hatched
If it does hatch that might be a step in the right direction

If there was a patron saint of lost causes I would be wearing the medallion

[The Drone Ranger]

Fatshark is right probably not worth the effort. I'll probably do as he suggests this week unless there is a dramatic turn around.

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You have some brood in yours though alclosier so by hanging in there for a few weeks you can requeen

[nemphlar]

I see them collecting pollen, water, the tops are warm and the trays have some debris, but with temperatures around 7'c not sure how you guys have been able to get in to look.

[gavin]

I've only lifted frames in one of mine so far. I'll start on the next warm day.

Colonies short of supplies might not be showing any eggs just for that reason. If that might be the reason (due to dearth of workers for some reason) the queen could be perfectly good and the little colony respond to feeding and insulation. Or respond to an influx of hatching brood. Or it could be a queen issue ....