queens eggs not hatching

[andy]

My queen was superseded in June. The new Queen is laying but none of her eggs are hatching. Has anyone seen this
before or know what the cause is? All opinions welcomed thanks.

[Feckless Drone]

Apologies for answering with questions..but. How do you know these eggs are not hatching? Are you sure it was supercedure in June? And, is the colony healthy in terms of numbers?

[Adam]

To be clear, I assume you mean that the eggs are hatching after 3 days, turning into larvae and then being sealed and the resultant bees are not emerging after 21 days? Or is something different happening?

If a colony is suffering from a heavy varroa mite infestation the mites could be causing the new bees to die before they get out (Parasitic Mite Syndrome). Check to see if the bees in the cells have stunted bodies or deformed wings - or there are some that are dead with their proboscis sticking out of the cell.

Are larvae being fed - i.e. in some translucent food one the egg has hatched into a larva. Is there pollen in the hive? Before larvae are being sealed, do they look pearly white and in a C shape? Or distorted or off-colour?

[andy]

To be clear, I assume you mean that the eggs are hatching after 3 days, turning into larvae and then being sealed and the resultant bees are not emerging after 21 days? Or is something different happening?

If a colony is suffering from a heavy varroa mite infestation the mites could be causing the new bees to die before they get out (Parasitic Mite Syndrome). Check to see if the bees in the cells have stunted bodies or deformed wings - or there are some that are dead with their proboscis sticking out of the cell.

Are larvae being fed - i.e. in some translucent food one the egg has hatched into a larva. Is there pollen in the hive? Before larvae are being sealed, do they look pearly white and in a C shape? Or distorted or off-colour?

I am sorry, I wasnt very clear. I know she was superseded, I saw the superseded cells, 2 only ,on face of comb, the old queen was marked yellow spot for
last year and the new queen was unmarked. New Q was marked red spot when she started laying. By not hatching I mean the eggs never turn into larvae, they are in worker cells. The colony is quite small but bees covering 4 frames, there are 2 frames of polllen and 1 full frame of honey. The eggs have been sitting there for several weeks. One per cell at the bottom of the cell.I have never seen the queen laying but she is always touring around the combs. The varroa drop was minimal last month less than 2/day. The bees look healthy and are well tempered .

[andy]

Apologies for answering with questions..but. How do you know these eggs are not hatching? Are you sure it was supercedure in June? And, is the colony healthy in terms of numbers?

Thank you very much. Yes I am sure she was superseded, I saw the 2 supercedure cells on the face of the comb. The old queen was marked yellow spot and the new queen appeared unmarked. She was marked after she started laying with red spot. By not hatching I mean they do not hatch from the egg, they do not become larvae. It is small colony about 4 frames of bees, is doomed anyway because it cant build up, it seems healthy, varroa count low plenty of pollen and honey . I cant see anything in the books about non hatching eggs and am curious to know if anyone has had this problem. Might it be the eggs were damaged by the heat, though they other colonies in a similar temperature have been ok

[Feckless Drone]

I guess being too hot or getting chilled might prevent the eggs developing - but I would have expected the bees to clean them out. I've been incompetent enough to chill brood - but never noted any eggs stuck at that stage. Maybe someone with more experience (not incompetence) might comment.

I would agree with what you say about the lack of prospects for this colony.

[Adam]

I've not seen the problem - if you have another colony then you could put in a frame with eggs and larvae and see whether the eggs are ignored which are on the introduced frame. If the queen is a drone layer usually the eggs will be removed or allowed to develop into drone larvae. (I wonder if they are being removed and then the cells are being re-filled again? Odd though!) If the colony is small, the last thing they want to do is to rear drones so the larvae may be ignored. And if the colony is small in a standard sized brood box, they will not be able to keep the brood warm.

I had a colony this year that overwintered to almost nothing and was not rearing any brood at all. I was going to give the queen a little nip until the tractor driver managed to ping one hive a few metres and killed the queen in the hive as a result. https://browstonbee.wordpress.com/2018/04/19/ping-and-youre-gone/ As a last-ditch "I'll have a go" I put the queen from the broodless colony into the colony that had been pinged by the farmer and she laid fine all summer - being superceded now though.