Tons of brrod in one hive today!

[GJP]

I'm in south central Wisconsin and have 7 hives.  I've been feeding syrup for the last three or four weeks and the girls have been packing it away.  I went through the second hive body on all the hives this weekend to check on stores and weight.  One had a frame with a small area of brood and a few eggs.  Five were just packing in the syrup and converting.  The last one was a different story.  It's October 17th.  The supers have been off since late August.  #7 had brood in the second frame on through to # 8.  More towards #5 but it looked in mid-late spring form.  #7 even had some drones hanging around! We've had a long stretch of warm weather 60's and 70's with lows around 40 at night. 

How does one hive misread the season because of the weather and the others make the adjustment?  I figure it's going to be toast once the weather turns!  I'll plan to put a candy board on it to help it through but it's going to be very light compared to the others. 

Any ideas on why or suggestions on the next move?

Thanks,

Greg

[Sparky]

Sounds like with all that brood they will be strong going into winter Keep feed on them if they need stores. Your candy board can be put in when it gets colder. If they have a good wintering LOOK OUT come spring, as they may again need early feed.

[AliciaH]

Out of curiosity, did you get a chance to check the lower deep?  Or did you just check the top one? 

The reason I ask is because in my last round of inspections (and I mean last for the winter), I also found hives where the top deep was full of brood.  Luckily, it was warm enough that I pulled the deeps off and checked below.  One hive had completely filled the bottom deep with capped honey (so I switched the boxes).  In the second hive, half the top deep was brood and the bottom deep was almost completely empty with no bee activity at all (so I reduced).

Sounds like a good population going into winter, though, as long as they have enough to eat.

[GJP]

Alicia,

The bottom box was very light.  Lots of bees but not much for stores.  All seven hives are about the same.

Greg

[AliciaH]

Greg, I'll continue to follow your thread and see what others may suggest.  The nucs I ordered this spring do not seem to have good "storing" genes, whereas my more established hives are good.  They'll quit taking syrup pretty soon and I'm already thinking the same questions.