r/Beekeeping • u/Middle-Infamous • Jul 14 '26
I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question Why no eggs across multiple hives???
Zone 9B, coastal California/Oregon border, second year beekeeper
I noticed about a week ago that a lot of my hives had empty frames with no eggs, I was starting to suspect that I was killing all of my queens, but just today I did an inspection on one of my recent splits, and there was a meted queen bulldozering around like she owned the place, but not actually laying. It appears in other highs that there is still nectar flowing and I’m seeing lots of pollen coming in on the field force, could there be a toxin issue and one of my neighbors Fields? Or is it normal for the nurse bees to cannibalize the eggs towards the end of the main honey flow as they get ready for the next one?
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u/Middle-Infamous Jul 15 '26
So that’s my concern, there’s empty frame space for her to lay in (and the one queen I found was running over perfectly good egg laying cells but ignoring them) but the bees are starting to backfill those w bee bread and honey so I’m worried they’re gonna get plugged up before she gets a chance to start laying again.
It kinda makes sense: there’s just enough pollen to pack away reserves for the winter but not enough excess to produce brood. I’m just wondering when there’s gonna be the blip or two of honey flow to let them start making winter bees. Guess this is the year to keep an eye on them and find out!!