Can anyone tell me if the queen sometimes stops laying late in the summer
if there is not much of a honeyflow going on?  Our weather is extremely dry
lately and has been hot too.  I just checked my hives and in one there is
some sealed brood but no sign of eggs or larvae younger than about 6-8
days.  In the other, there is only a small amount of larvae and I didn't
see any eggs at all either, but there is lots of sealed brood.  Neither
hive has a lot of surplus honey, but both do have lots of pollen and a
decent amount of nector.  I've never been particularly good at finding the
queen and have always relied on seeing eggs to check for the queen.  Both
of these hives seem to always have an attitude problem also, so I have been
thinking of requeening anyway.  I have apistan and menthol in currently.
What would be your recommendations?

Both hives are in a very shady woodsy setting.

tia,

Vivian