tell me what is going on with them.

hardtime · February 25, 2008, 08:11:14 PM

ok the days are warming up here in va. i have 6 hives .sitting side by side 5 of them are working in and out alot on warm day .this 1 hive aint doing much .i put my ear up to it nock on it hear short buzz.so today in went in to it .there was bees in there i went back at night to and thay where is in there ..it has one super on it and it is full of honey to .what is going on .why aint thay working like the other hives .

Jerrymac · February 25, 2008, 08:16:12 PM

I went and looked at my hives the other day. A lot of them were going at it but there was one not doing anything. The other day I was going to go into that hive to see what was going on and it was going like gang busters, but one of the hives that had been busy before was now not doing anything.

Don't know what to tell ya. :?

hardtime · February 25, 2008, 08:20:25 PM

thay might have all the food thay nead and are just laying around for now .time will tell.i thought thay might be queenless or some thing like that.

CBEE · February 25, 2008, 08:46:35 PM

When you went into the hive did you see any brood, eggs or any queen sign ? YOu may need to go back in and look. Were they in a foul mood ? noisier than normal ? any queen cells ?

hardtime · February 25, 2008, 08:56:27 PM

well i did not pull any hangers out just look in .i just lifted one end of the super up and look in there was bee all over the top of the hive hangera .not that much buzzing going on ether.thay seam lazy to me but i am a new be at this to!!! this was one hour before dark to .

Kirk-o · February 25, 2008, 09:02:45 PM

Take a look then tell us What you observed
kirko

Brian D. Bray · February 27, 2008, 11:19:49 PM

Quote from: hardtime on February 25, 2008, 08:56:27 PM
well i did not pull any hangers out just look in .i just lifted one end of the super up and look in there was bee all over the top of the hive hangera .not that much buzzing going on ether.thay seam lazy to me but i am a new be at this to!!! this was one hour before dark to .

Are they same subspecies as your other hives? If the cluster is pretty small and there is adequate stores chances are the bees will go to producing brood in order to build up enough to resemble your other hives. Are the bees that are venturing out bringing back pollen? Are the bees in the other hives bringing back pollen or just doing cleansing flights. If no pollen feed them a pollen patty and a little 1:1 syrup and prod them on into growth. A look insid will also tell you if you have a sufficient amount of bees to bother with. If not you have 2 choices: combine or barrow brood frames (including nurse bees) from you other hives.