Hive Queenless or queen stopped laying?

[Yarra_Valley]

Hi Everyone,

Its been a while since I've posted here. After a break from the bees I've taken to keeping them again.

I did an inspection on my sole hive yesterday and noticed there was no brood at all. I didn't see the queen, but wasn't looking for her initially, just checking the brood for disease and stores for winter. Well there was no brood to check. The bees seemed to be methodical as normal and of usual temperament, not acting nervous.

I'm wondering if the colony is queenless or the queen has just stopped laying for winter. For those overseas, its the last month of autumn here but its been quite cold, wetter and colder than average I think.

Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[BeeMaster2]

Sounds like she shut down for the winter. That is a good thing. The hive does not meet to be feeding brood with no food coming in. Brood consumes large amounts of food. A whole lot more than the adult bees do.
Jim

[yantabulla]

Yarra Valley beware of the advice that you receive from this forum. Lots of posts does not mean wisdom.

[Dallasbeek]

Then again, it doesn't mean the poster doesn't know what he/she is talking about, either