Hive Inspection *puzzled*

[snispel]

So, I did a hive inspection today.

It's been 15 days since my last inspection. At that time this hive was 2 medium 8 frames and 1 deep 8 frames chuck full. I began making boxes and frames and added one more box after a few days as I was afraid they would swarm, but I did not inspect the hive. The weather was chilly and often cloudy/rainy/windy.

We had been unseasonably warm in April and May turned cold and nasty. Even as many blooms froze it was a couple days and things were blooming again. Highs that first week since the inspection were in the 50s and 60s and lows in the 30s and 40s. This past week we were highs in the 60s and 70s and lows in the 40s and 50s. It's rained about half of the days.

Finally, a nice warm sunny day. So, I inspected the hive. I anticipated being able to do a split so I had all my equipment ready. Upon opening the hive, both bottom medium boxes were light and scant. There were no eggs in those 2 boxes. There were some emerging drone. The bees were putting in some nectar...some pollen. The top deep box had 2 frames of honey, 4 frames of brood, 1 frame of pollen, 1 frame of drone. I found the queen in that box and she had been laying some eggs. They were just little rice shaped.

So....is that decline because the weather was so chilly?

The other thing I noticed that I wasn't sure about was it seemed there were drone that were emerging, but they didn't seem to be moving much to get out. Other than that, the bees seemed busy. There was one here and there with mite wings. Most of them looked healthy. The comb looked healthy. It smelled good. The queen cups were empty.

I didn't know quite what to do, so I took off the box that I had added a couple days after the last inspection. They had done nothing with it and now there was plenty of work to do in the bottom two.

[TheHoneyPump]

Sounds like the hive is being held back.  Add up the observations you have shared:  A hive that has dwindled at a time of year that it should be growing exponentially between inspections.  Your mention about the drones emergence and seeing some deformed wing (DWV) are indicators of the prime probable cause - varroa mite. Pupae affected by mites are weakened, and often die while emerging with just their head out of the cell and tongue extended. What you described of the drones may be that, the dwv is definitely that.
Do you know how to take a sample for mites level?  I encourage you to do that so you can make an informed decision of what to do next.

[Ben Framed]

Was you  queen marked? Could it be they may have swarmed and you were not aware?

[cao]

How well did you inspect 15 days ago?  Could you have missed some queen cells?  The timeline would work with a new queen just starting to lay and would explain the capped drone hatching.