While inspecting my hives this past weekend, I came across two hives where I couldn't find a sign of any eggs, brood, nor the queen. So, a queen-less colony. But to my hobbyist eye and ear, neither colony was exhibiting a typical queen-less signs. There were many more drones that were loud, but the workers seemed only slightly more agitated. Foragers were going out and bringing pollen and honey. Yet I couldn't find a single egg and I've really looked, including a flash light and magnifying glass. Okay, so it's done, gotta order two new queens.

But, one of the hives was equipped with the Broodminder temperature and humidity sensors, one each above the two brood champers. Something told me to check them out and lo and behold, both are reporting steady temperature inside the chambers at 95 Fahrenheit. I hope that the picture of the graphs will be visible, but how is it possible that the colony would maintain the temperature at that level, while there is zero brood?

If the graphs are visible in email, the drop at the end is from the inspection, when I had the hives opened. The graph on the left is the upper brood chamber, the one on the right is the lower one. Do I need to make a appointment with an ophthalmologist or is there a possible explanation? I know how the eggs look like, I've held the frames under variety of angles, shook the bees off to have a clear view and nothing. So, did I just waste money ordering two replacement queens, or is this the lull before the temperature drops and becomes more representative of a colony that has no brood to raise?

Przemek



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