I did the two in the backyard first then the one down the street. I got to the garden hive late this afternoon.
One of my backyard hives appeared Queenless; there was no brood, and not many bees. So I combined this with its neighbour. This hive did have a queen but there was no brood in the hive as yet. I added some pollen from a couple of spare frames and I also reduced the hive to a single deep before combining the two. The weak hive I put over the strong but separated by a sheet of newspaper. They seem happy enough...
The hive in Diane's yard is strong. Lots of bees, in a super and in a deep, a queen, some food and some brood (in the super). The hive had 2 deeps. The bottom deep had no stores so I removed it! The super I then put under the remaining deep which had some stores. Hopefully the queen will move up and start laying in the deep now.
Down at the gardens it was a similar story to the hive at home; a queen, a good number of bees but no brood, and only a little by way of stores. I think I may feed this hive and put in a frame of pollen. But I need to check if feeding syrup at this time of year isn't too early.
So it was a good day all round, even though I'm down to 6 hives, I feel good about what I have seen. but I think some feeding is now in order. I will try to go through my other hives on Sunday or Monday.
I wonder if anyone else out there has seen queens but no brood?
Down at the gardens it was a similar story to the hive at home; a queen, a good number of bees but no brood, and only a little by way of stores. I think I may feed this hive and put in a frame of pollen. But I need to check if feeding syrup at this time of year isn't too early.
So it was a good day all round, even though I'm down to 6 hives, I feel good about what I have seen. but I think some feeding is now in order. I will try to go through my other hives on Sunday or Monday.
I wonder if anyone else out there has seen queens but no brood?
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