Hey all, first year Beek here with my first hive. I have the southern Italian breed and I love them. Ever since I got them they were always calm and never really flew around me when I opened it up. I have an issue now with the queen not laying, though here is some backstory. Around late June I noticed the hive had no more stores, I am in a dearth from what I have read about my area (Raleigh,NC), and I started feeding them 1:1.5 sugar water and at first they wouldn’t even eat that, I had to spray them down with a spray bottle and then they started cleaning it off each other and then coming to the feeder in the roof of my flow hive. It’s been a week today since I started feeding them and my queen has not started laying again. They are storing the sugar water and they should have some space to lay still as I checked today and I did 100% see the queen today (7-7-2025). Do I need to requeen or is this normal? Like did I stress the hive out by accidentally letting them run pretty much out of food? I swear one week they were normal expanding like crazy then the next there is no brood. I do still have just a little bit of capped brood left. I have heard of other people having this issue where the queen goes on an off lay then starts back up but does anyone know how long it should be before she starts laying again? I will probably check up on them Wednesday or Thursday depending on weather. My cousin who is right across the street from me also got his first hive like me about the same time. He has the Italian hybrids and his queen is still laying, we both checked his today as well. Should I give her more time to start up again? I really love the hive I’ve got temperament wise and I wasn’t sure if a new queen would make them more aggressive.
Thank you all for the help in advance!
Hi Andrew,
I can fully understand your anxiety regarding your colony. Moreso feeling uncertianty about ones own capacity in what you can and cant do is something ive felt in the past.
Its already established that you recognise your colony is exposed to a resource dearth. Queens naturally moderate thier laying pattern in accordance to this. Its a natural occurance in such periods of time. So what can be done to discern abnomalities? With the hive or if not the Queen?
I will back track and reference some of my experience since i have seen this occur in my colonies as of late. My honey harvest yields were 10% of the previous season, rainful being the influencing factor with my region in Australia facing its 3rd driest season since the 1980s.
This has resulted in me having to suppliment stores for the greater portion of later summer and autumn months. Observations with my colonies translated to a retracted hive cluster. Reduced overall worker presence. Brood retracting from eight frames in the height of spring to less than two frames on through out summer and Autumn.
Resource scarcity is the primary factor behind colony states akin to this. My response was keeping a supply of sugar water available was key in this time. As of now my colonies are approuching mid winter with healthy stores still present. However vigilance is the key with preventing issues that can set back colonies that can impact on numerous brood generations.
My advice is to ensure your colony has a sustanable flow of sugar water. Keep providing this until your colony has at least 4 frames of stores. Upon further hive inspections look for signs of a renewed laying presence from the Queen with eggs larvae and capped cells being the signs your colony is recovering
What is the bee coverage of the frames looking like as time goes on? Do you observe busy hive activity upon external observations and if so are your bees bringing in any pollen?
A colony rebounding from such state naturally and on its own accord is going to take time, worker brood typically requires a span of 21 days to elapse for a further generation to finally emerge. So if it is genuinly a case of your Queen being the root cause then you will need to identify it is indeed her causing this and then take the necassary steps.
So with this in mind, You need to gain an accurate understanding of what your colony requires of you. This is why I would strongly suggest seeking the advice of a local Beekeeper. They will be able to look into your hive, provide feedback and also provide local knowledge which is very helpful in your unique conditional circumstance.
Having a second hive also provides you the capacity to pull resources from the stronger hive and suppliment the weaker, whether thats brood or stores. Its a reliable means to help kick forward a colony in times of low. However theres nothing wrong with trying to maintain a single colony. Your facing a time where you genuinly do require external support, act quickly and your colony will rebound and produce numerous rewards in excess of future honey harvest. I strongly advise not taking frames of resources from your cousins colony for the fact you need to maintain hygeinic practices in seperation between your two apiaries.
Please provide any updates that you can, photos of your colony would strongly aid us in providing accurate advice going forwards.
I wish you and your colony all the best with a brood recovery,
Regards, Scol.