Best way to increase brood size ... in the winter ... in Obser Hive

[specialkayme]

I took a smaller hive that I didn't think was going to be able to make it through the winter, split it in half and put it into two OH in my house. Inside temps are kept around 70, so I think they have a better chance of survival (already got a second queen).

The OH that I ordered a new queen for is doing alright (not fantastic but good enough). The old queen (new last year) ran into a few problems. Her hive got pounded with wax moths. I took the frame out, froze it, and the wax moths still came back. Every time I opened up the OH in the past two weeks, more and more workers are dead, and they don't appear to be raising much more brood. Now there is only a handful of workers (maybe 100) with the queen left.

I would like to get them to increase the brood size so they can make it through the rest of the winter. I gave them some pollen that Iddee gave me last summer, and I'm feeding them 1:1 sugar, but I'm afraid with the outdoor temps they won't want to raise more brood.

Any suggestions?

[bfriendly]

If you REALLY want to save them I think you are going to have to add more bees.  I had a very small cluster come through winter in an OH once, but I would say that was about 500-1000 bees.

The queen may be failing or other problems so it may not be worth it to try... that said you could try adding a frame of bees from another hive.. spray them all with lemongrass/ smoke heavily/ etc so that HOPEFULLY the new bees don't overpower/kill your queen.

minimum number of bees are needed to start raising brood.  possibly try removing empty/unused frames above and stuffing with insulation to try to reduce the space...

[specialkayme]

I would love to add another frame of brood, however it has been a very bad year for me. I started the season with two hives, bought a package, and did a split on one of the hives. By the end of the season I lost three and was down to the one weak hive that I split into two OH's. I don't have any frames of brood to take from any other hives to help the population.

[Michael Bush]

They won't raise brood right now no matter what you do.  After the solstice they might if they have enough bees, enough pollen and enough stores.