I just went into my hive for the first time this spring -- I wanted to feed and medicate, found it absolutely jammed with honey. I have two deeps. The top is full to the brim with capped honey. The bottom is about 2/3 full of capped honey. The girls are flying in with pollen but there's nowhere to store it and they're dumping it at the entrance.
I didn't catch sight of the queen and did not see any brood. I see no need to feed, but am a little concerned about not medicating.
Both deeps are crammed with bees.
I'm guessing I need to get a new queen in there quick?
But I'm also wondering if it would make sense to split the two deeps and make two hives, add another deep on top of each, and get two queens rather than one?
Thanks for any and all advice. One of these days I'd love to be someone who has answers rather than questions!
You may still have a queen with all that activity. It's easy to miss when you're trying to inspect with bees running everywhere on the frames. I had the same situation a couple of weeks ago when I couldn't locate the queen and there didn't appear to be any brood either. Now, all hives are really booming!
If you think they need more room, add another box. You can always split the hive later but you want to give the queen plenty of room to lay and perhaps avoid a swarm.
My goodness! I am having major bee envy here in frozen WI!
when you inspect, check for eggs where the bees are grouped together the most. You might have to blow a tiny bit to get them to move away so you can see in the cells. If you find eggs, she was there at most 3 days ago and will be on 1 or two frames near by... If there are eggs and no queen cells, you still have a queen.
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Bees must get pollen or pollen patty that they can start to rear brood.
Splitting hives why: It is really bad idea. And where you get laying queens?
If hives has too much food, take ssome frames off and give empty combs instead.
I am new beek but my thoughts are same as finski- you may get honey bound where queen has not place to lay. If this is the case there will be an artificial snese of crowding of the hive which may raise the likelihood of swarming...... just my one cent
1st question: what are you medicating for?
2nd: what have your temps been like? almost everywhere there should be at least a little brood by now. it may not be capped yet. at the first opportunity, look again for eggs, larvae, etc.
3rd: what finski said :-D
spring queen loss seems to be common. if you do not find any signs of brood and can grab a frame of uncapped brood from another hive, pop it in. it will help keep them happy until you can find another queen. if that is not an option, you can combine that hive with another until you can get a queen, then divide them again.
i have one in the same condition and next warm day will combine them with another hive.
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