A brood tale of two hives.

[Some Day]

I inspected two hives this evening and photographed the brood patterns to compare the two queens.  What do you all think?  I have included a photo of a frame of stores and pollen from the spotty queen hive.
Stores:


Hive 1:





Hive 2:




What would you do with hive 1?

[tedh]

Barring any other problems, mites, illness, etc, I'd consider requeening.  How old is she?  Hive #2 looks pretty sweet!  Ted

[Lburou]

That brood pattern in Hive #1 could be the result of Parasitic Mite Syndrome (PMS).  I would do a mite count with an alcohol wash.  Then, treat for mites.  Repeat the treatment in seven days.  Treat again.  JMO. 

P.S.   Medhat Nasr, a Ph.d. in entomology, did research showing when early Fall bee populations are decreasing and mite populations are increasing, application of two OAV treatments seven days apart will kill 90% of the mites in the hive.  This is because the phoretic mite numbers are at their zenith for the year and are easy to kill.  The treatment seven days later gets newly emerging mites.

[Some Day]

Ted,  Hive one is a swarm from June 30th this year.  I am guessing the queen is two going on three years old I think her days are numbered.  Hive two has a Minnesota Hygienic Queen from this year.

Lburou,  I think you are correct on the PMS.  I did not sample this hive, but I did sample the hive next to it and had  24 mites in 300 bees.  So I have been treating all of the hives since the first of August.

This hive was a swarm captured June 30th and placed on one frame of capped brood and the remaining frames were foundation.  I treated this hive with OAV on July 5 and started treatments with Apiguard on August 12.  I will test hive on September 1 and act accordingly.  I may go ahead and put a new mated queen into this hive replacing the old girl.

[riverbee]

someday, great photos!

my answer, this late in the season? pinch the queen in hive #1 and combine with # 2, that's just me and what i would do.