# Queen Stopped Laying?



## arkiados (Apr 9, 2013)

I think my queen stopped laying but I've read of queens not laying when it gets cold. Nights get into the upper 40's here as of the last week. Should I be 
re-queening? Am I missing something or is there anything else I can try? I'd let them emergency replace her but there aren't any larvae. I can double check tomorrow if needed. See below for my hive status. Any advice is welcome.

A month ago...
- Lots of drone and worker brood
- Eggs and larvae present
- Solid brood pattern
- Honey and pollen

A couple weeks ago...
- Noticed 50-100 DWV workers outside the hive
- Normal scale down of drones

Today...
- Lots of honey
- A combined frame of pollen
- Didn't see DWV inside
- Capped brood
- No eggs or larvae that I could see - sun was setting though
- Queen alive
- Small and spotty brood pattern on a couple frames


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## Slow Drone (Apr 19, 2014)

You didn't mention mite counts . There should be plenty of brood right now they shouldn't be shutting down yet. You should check for eggs and larvae on a bright sunny day to put your mind at ease. My hives are still raising plenty of brood and I'm just West of you. What breed of bees are you running.


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## arkiados (Apr 9, 2013)

I didn't do a mite count this year since I am a newbie. I did "proactively" treat with ApiGuard for a couple weeks in September. I'll take some pictures today too. I did notice a couple brown specs under the queen's wing. Might be mites. Will a queen stop laying if she has a couple mites attached? It could be how my DWV came about. These are Italians.


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## Slow Drone (Apr 19, 2014)

I've only seen mites attached to a queen a couple of times didn't have an effect on them. I can't say for sure whether mites would stop a queen from laying that I just don't know. If there are mites attached to the queen I would say there is a mite problem. In TN Italians seem to keep brood year round not real heavy in the winter but more than other breeds of bees. I'm a TF beekeeper so I don't know much about ApiGaurd and it's proper use. If the queen is not laying after your next inspection and can not find another queen PM me and I'll give you one of mine free to test.


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## Tangell88 (May 4, 2016)

Im about an hour north of you in Bethpage. I checked my 2 hives yesterday and noticed the same thing. They both are 2 deeps and the top deeps are packed full of honey and pollen but the bottom deeps are mostly empty with very little brood. I also noticed there are still quite a few drones still in the hives. This is my first year so I cant really say if its normal or not


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