I checked my three hives today and found, to my great surprise, no sign of
larvae in any of them. I saw no eggs, either, but the sun wasn't very
bright and I'm not sure I could have spotted them in the bottom of the
cells. There was capped brrod at the ready-to-emerge stage in all hives,
plenty of bees, and plenty of honey and pollen.
 
It stretches credulity too much to suppose that all my queens have met an
untimely demise. Ruling that out, I have to assume that, given the
generally colder and gloomy weather here in Piedmont NC the past 2-3 weeks,
and, I guess, a lessening of the fall goldenrod flow, my queens have shut
down egg production for a spell to reduce hive population. But I'm a newbie
and haven't read anything that suggests my hives should be devoid of larvae
this early in the fall.
 
Any thoughts? Remember, we're talking three hives here, not an isolated
incident.
 
Greg
 
____________________________________________________
Greg Hankins                       Mt. Gilead, NC
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