Brood on edge of frame instead of middle and possible bad laying queen?

[Jessaboo]

Would appreciate opinions on a hive inspection done today. Not much capped brood - def see larvae. No egg sightings (but I am not good at that) and no queen sighting (but she is home grown and not marked).

First pic is brood frame where all the brood is over to the right side of frame as you look at it. Any ideas on this? Lots of brood cells cleaned and polished out on this frame and others.

Second pic reminds me of what some call a shotgun pattern? Is this what a poorly laying queen looks like? 3rd is just a close up.

What would you all do about this? Requeen?

We are feeding a 1/1 sugar syrup as we are still trying to build out the last few frames in both the top (about 3 1/2 frames) and bottom (the outside 2) deeps. We have not added a super this year at all (it is the first year for this hive).

Many thanks.

- Jess

[Moonshae]

I'd say the brood pattern is solid. There are always a few cells here and there that are empty; they help the bees keep the brood warm (heater bees go inside them to generate heat).

The first frame with the brood all to the right makes me think that this frame was drawn out this year, and the center area was drawn first, had a bunch of brood raised in it, and then the right edge got drawn out later, so the brood there is on a different "cycle".

In the middle pic, it looks like there is so much pollen stored on the frame, the bottom was the only place they could raise brood. Nothing to worry about there.

The last pic looks to be the same. The bees are raising brood around the copious pollen stores that dominate the frame.

I wouldn't requeen, looks like she's doing just fine.

[Kathyp]

also, in 2 & 3 you can see larvae in some of the cells.  looks like she went  back and filled them either after they had been vacated or cleaned.

[Jessaboo]

Thank you for such quick responses - and such reassurance!

Yes, these frames were drawn this year and what you say makes perfect sense. I did see larvae in a few of the frames - only one was clean and shiny - guess that's where she will go next.

I assume brood rearing is also being reduced a bit at this time of year or am I jumping the gun with that thought?

I was happy to see only one hive beetle (who met her maker today) and no visible mites (although I know there must be some there) We did sugar shake again, just to keep up on it.  Not many drone cells so I didn't want to open one up and have a look.

Thanks, again.