Hi everyone i did a split just before Christmas and checked a few days later to see if she was free which she was and i checked for new eggs and im so sure i saw some so i left them to do their thing. But on inspection today there was no eggs, larva or capped brood. I saw the queen and the hive is still weak in numbers. Its dry in sydney and the last couple of weeks we have had a lot of 40 degree days 2 actually hit the 45 degree mark. Could these hot days be the cause of this or is this a problem with the queen? They also had used all honey that i gave them and had next to no pollen.
Im going to start them on sugar surup today and i have also taken 2 frames of brood from another strong hive both with capoed brood, larva and eggs.
Is there anything else i can do to save this hive?
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I would have expected that ot is getting late to do splits in Sydney or to try and safe one?
I have found in the past that eggs can be killed by extreme heat - more so in a weak hive with not enough bees to keep the space cool.
I think you are doing all you ca.
Thanks max,
I will check in a couple of days and see if there is any change. Tomorrow is expected 36 and Tuesday 40 again :/
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I would say desperate need of water and food. No living thing can live without either.
Hey Acebird,
They have access to a lot of water with a dam like 100-200 metres away, the other hive have been bringing in plenty of pollen from blackthorn which is in flower. So i didn't think they would be hungry. Both hives now ove r the past 24 hours they havd been given about a litre of sugar syrup each so they should have a lot stored. I will also give them another 500ml on Wednesday evening. When should the queen lay again?
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Assuming it was a queenless split, about 1 month after the split you should be seeing eggs. If there is still good numbers of bees in the hive give it a frame of brood from one of your other hives. It could possibly do with the extra bees, see if they start to raise q cells.
Do they seem queenless? That is are they stirred up, racey, a little jumpy crazy like. (Hard to explain until you know it).
The bees seen calm to me and the queen is in the hives.
I did the split with a queen that i ordered so they were never queenless
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So no eggs laid by a queen you purchased almost a month ago! Terminate her. !
Then post her back to the place of purchase (joking).
Give them a frame of brood or maybe even two. Ots on the frames, check again in a week.
Good luck.
Thanks Anderson, i have given them 2 frames of brood and feeding them everyday
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So i took a frame of honey and 2 frames of brood from another hive and fed sugar surup, things turned around really fast and queen started to lay, both hives still going :) checking again tomorrow.
They just needed nectar after all that.
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