# No brood in one hive



## bbrider (Feb 16, 2014)

I have two hives. I bought them both last year and nursed and pampered them through many rookie mistakes. I went into winter with two deeps , the tops filled with capped honey, the bottoms where brood and honey. My winter in Western Wa was fairly mild and they never moved into the top boxes.
One of the hives has a few eggs and uncapped brood. The other has zero brood or eggs. After searching every frame, I was unable to locate the queen. I did find empty queen cells through-out the bottom box. 
All of that to ask this: Can I take one of the frames with uncapped brood and give it to the broodless hive? Will they make a queen from this new frame? I think it is too early to buy a new queen anywhere . 
Suggestion?


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## GeoCitizen (Feb 24, 2014)

I live in Ohio and we still have snow on the ground so I'm trying to adjust my thinking to your season. If you are just coming out of winter and the hive has both a queen and living bees, then I would give her another week. Some species will stop laying eggs if there is no nectar and pollen coming into the hive. If you're not doing so already, start feeding with sugar water. This will help stimulate brood production.

My other thought, is since you saw open queen cells, the queen you found may be a virgin queen who has yet to make her maiden flight. Again be patient. She will begin laying eggs soon. I assume you want to move brood so they can requeen. In that case you would need to find that queen again and kill her and wait a day. Then move a frame with eggs or day old larvae. Capped brood does the queenless hive little good since by that time its too late to rear a queen. Once the hive realizes it is queenless it will heap loads of attention onto those eggs because that's their one shot at survival. 

If I had to guess. I think you are ok as is.


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## bbrider (Feb 16, 2014)

GeoCitizen, 
Thanks for the advise. I feel like an over protective dad, sometimes, with the bees. I tried to lose both hives last year with really dumb mistakes. Because of that, I have a lot of extra time and energy into them. After getting them through the winter, I dont want to lose one, now.  thanks again.


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## TxGypsy (Nov 23, 2006)

It may be very difficult to spot the queen at this time of the year. She slims down because she is not laying many eggs. Though I know that lots of folks say they don't advise marking a queen, I think it is a good idea for a beginner. That way you KNOW if you still have a queen and if it is the one you started out with.

I agree, start feeding and see if you can't stimulate the queens to start laying. From what you describe it would not be a good idea to take brood from one and give to the other since they are both diminished...the one severely. You would be much better off, if the one hive is basically dead, to build up the one that is still living and do a split or buy another queen later in the season. At this time of the year there may not be any drones to mate with a virgin queen even if the bees would raise one.


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## GeoCitizen (Feb 24, 2014)

My first year was a disaster. My first queen was an under producer, but being new I didn't recognize that fact. I eventually bought a second queen, which I kept finding on the landing board outside the hive! By this time it was July and I was very discouraged. So I adopted what I think is the best bee advice possible: Let the bees do what the bees want to do. They've been around thousands of years! I didn't expect the hive to make it to spring but we had a mercifully mild winter (my first year) and they made it.

As you read the beekeeping information you will often find contradictory advice. You have to decide if you are a hobbyist or someone in it for profit. This is how I classify bee website advice. I also sort on geography. Advice from a Vermont or Minnesota beekeeper with similar seasons is probably more applicable to my situation. 

Hobbyist/profiteer - let's take requeening for example. The bees know how to do this without your help. The problem is you will loose about 28 days of foraging and colony building which will definately impact your honey harvest (especially true in Cleveland where I live). If you buy a queen, you may only loose 7-10 days! The benefit of letting them requeen is 28 days of no brood will break the varroa mite reproduction cycle in your hive plus you may get genetics more aligned to your location. I'm a hobbyist, so I like the self requeen idea and I have the low honey volume to show for it!

Hives are pheromon driven. I once read every day you open your hive sets it back two days due to lost pheromons. If you open the hive every 7 days over a 16-20 week season you lost an entire month! (2x16=32). So going in more frequently should be rare. Fight the urge Dad. "The kids are alright."


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Queens here in the mid west will start laying a few eggs in January and a bit more in February and take off in March with some syrup to stimulate the queen, well the workers who earg the queen to produce.

I read that you didn't find a queen in the brood less hive. Unless there were drones any queens that recently hatched are not mated so you will get a drone laying worker. On the other hand if you have drones and you do not see brood in 10 days 
.
Take a frame of Eggs from the other hive and give it to them but again you need drones to mate with the queen.

If no drones I would just use newspaper and marry the hives and when you can buy a queen or have drones split the hive so you will once again have two.

 Al


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## bbrider (Feb 16, 2014)

Thanks for the idea's. I'm feeding syrup now, and will check in a week to see if there are any changes. If not , I will consolidate the hives. Then, when there is enough, I will split them, again. Thanks, again.


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