So I have a hive that has been around for 3 years now. And this spring it started off really well, lots of bees and fast build up. I checked it today and I'm confused to what is happening. There is two deeps and two supers, 6 weeks ago I split the hive. There are frames and frames of honey and pollen. The bees are activly bringing in both at the entrance. However, there is no capped brood, eggs etc.. in the whole hive! I was able to find about 6 or 8 small larva ( probably about 5-8 days old) and they looked like they were trapped in a white clear mucus ( they were all spread out all over the hive, not on the same frame). What the heck is going on? If the queen died would there not be laying workers? Why are they so activly collecting pollen if there is no brood? Does anybody have any suggestions about what to do?
when they have nothing to care for, they have nothing to do but bring stuff in.
your scattered larvae may be the first sign of laying workers. some hive seem to develop them quickly while others take weeks. do you have a frame of eggs you can pop in there? if so, i'd do it today and check in a couple or three days to see if they are building queen cells.
another ?
have they filled the frames with so much stuff that there is no place for the queen to lay? in that case, pull some frames and replace with empty. you can save those you pulled in the freezer to feed back later.
Not to bash the advice given, could possibly be an immature queen, with or with out space to lay, be patient.
feel free to compare and or scrutinize
http://picasaweb.google.com/114618827154388384387/ImmatureQueen# (http://picasaweb.google.com/114618827154388384387/ImmatureQueen#)