hive slow to build up...

[SteveSC]

I have a hive that that was doing good about a month ago and now it's just not doing hardly anything.

This hive over-wintered with just 1 brood box - it was fed syrup.  In the early spring it built up #s that were impressive - then there was the Easter day frost that slowed things and then the hive swarmed.  Ever since the swarm this hive hasn't done anything.  I put a foundation super on it just see if they would draw it out - no luck.  Yesterday I pulled all the frames out one at a time for inspection.  Most of the frames had 1\2 ( upper part of the frames only ) stores on them - I saw no larva - no eggs and no queen.  I didn't see any sign of a queen.

This hive seems healthy otherwise - the bees are coming and going just not the #s prior to the swarm - no #s build up at all.  It's been real dry here and I thought that might have something to do with it until I found the queen was gone.

I thought the hive would make another queen if for some reason the queen dies..   Should I go ahead and re-queen this hive or wait to see what happens.  I had planned on re-queening some hives in the fall.

[Mici]

the hive swarmed a few days before the new queen hatched, when a queen swarms, she stops laying eggs, don't know exactly but the number of eggs per day gets smaller every day after she has laid in those queen cells, so i'd say at least 3 days before she leaves the hive she stops laying. basicly after the new queen hatched there was almost no open brood in the hive, so-no way to raise a new queen. the queen that was to inherit the hive aparently died for some reason-snatched on her mating flight or any other reason.

they probably already have a laying worker so hurry up, give them a frame of open brood and see if they'll raise a new queen.

[Ross]

If you didn't find any brood or eggs, then they are absolutely not laying worker yet.  A frame of eggs, or combine with a queenright hive, or buy a queen, those are your choices.

[Cindi]

Steve, first off, how long have the been without a queen?  I think that is the important question. 

If this hive is pretty weak, I would combine it with another colony using the newspaper method.  If there has been no no brood from quite some time (unless you give a frame of brood), these bees are getting older and will be dying and there will not be enough nurse bees to look after brood to keep them warm and fed, anyways. 

Define more clearly what is going on.  Have a wonderful day, great life, great health.  Cindi