Do Queens Take a Break?

[Michael Bach]

I inspected my strongest startup hive today and I found capped brood, some capped honey, uncapped brood in all stages, some capped drones, and NO EGGS.

HMMMM I said.

I went frame by frame to double checked and no eggs.  I started looking for the queen and I found her.  I am not sure if looking and acting normal means anything but she seemed just fine.

This 4# package with mated queen was hived on April 10th.

Do queens laying run in cycles?  Does she need to mate again before she will lay again?  Do I have a problem?


Thanks Mike

[buzzbee]

If it's cold and the nectar stops flowing,or if the cells are filled with uncured nectar,the queen may stop laying. The queen does not need to mate again.She is mated for life once she starts laying.

[G3farms]

Just as buzzbee said she is mated for life which could be several years.

When you did you inspection did you notice any empty cell where she could lay eggs in??  The hive could be honey bound.

How many frames are in this hive and what size boxes??

G3

[riverrat]

you didnt mention it but did you happen to see any queen cells at the bottom of the frames

[Michael Bach]

The weather has been normal for Massachusetts.  Mid 60-70's.  Lows in the 40's.

I did notice there was a lot of uncapped honey.  I am using a 10 frame deep, a 10 frame medium, and empty deep for feeding.  7 of the 10 were drawn comb and the rest were foundation in the deep.  They have not completely drawn out the foundation frames.  The same for the medium.  & frames were drawn comb and 3 foundation.  There is not much activity in the medium.  Just a few workers.

The deep had some room for egg laying.  I would say 2-3 frames she could lay on 70% of it.  I did find the queen on the first frame in from the wall.

There is no queen cells on any frame, supercede or swarm.