Learning how to read a brood frame can seem daunting at first. Is my queen failing or has she just not laid in the frame yet? What does a healthy brood pattern even look like? And even the question, is this even a brood frame?
In this post I am going to walk you through what healthy brood looks like and signs of a failing queen from her brood pattern.
Beginner Guide to Brood Frames
Brood frames are the frames, generally in the bottom box, in the center of the box. As your hive grows, the queen may lay in the second and even third box as well, depending where you have your queen excluder placed. Just knowing where to look for brood frames will help you tremendously.
Brood can take on several different looks. When the queen has laid eggs in the frame, but before they have hatched, the frame can look empty. If you look very closely, you might be able to see what appears to be microscopic grains of rice in the bottom of the cell, which are the eggs. If you see multiple of these eggs, you likely have a laying worker. Here I show how to fix this situation.
The eggs hatch after four days. Once they hatch, they look like tiny white commas in the bottom of the cell. If you ever begin raising your own queens, and grafting, this is the stage you want the larva you will put in queen cups.
As they get a little older, they begin to transform from a comma, to a little “C” at the bottom of the cell. They will continue to get larger and fill out more of the cell.
This is an excellent example of what healthy brood looks like.
In the picture above, you will notice these older larvae in the center of the frame; they are the large white “C” shaped worm-looking creatures. Towards the edges, are cells that appear to be empty. If a beekeeper looked at this frame in the bee yard, they would see eggs and extremely young larvae, that are harder to photograph.
In the bottom center of the image, you will notice what is called capped brood. The bees cap the cells over to allow the mature larvae to pupate. Once they are done pupating, they will emerge as adult bees.
I would like to walk you through my thought process, as a beekeeper, when I see this frame.
There is brood at all stages on this frame. There are eggs (which cannot be seen in the picture) so I know that I have a healthy queen. She has been laying for 21 days, as I can see spots where capped brood has emerged, and she is laying well. She has what beekeepers call a solid brood pattern. If she did not have a solid brood pattern, she would have what is commonly referred to as a spotty brood pattern. When I see this frame, I am very happy, as a beekeeper, because I know that I am looking at a healthy hive.
I also notice that the queen very well could be on this frame. When trying to spot your queen, look for frames with eggs on it. She is almost always on a frame with eggs.
One can also observe that this frame is taken from a smaller colony, or one that is not raising as much brood as they would be at peak season. A strong colony during peak season should have frames mostly full of one stage of brood. This is not a bad thing, it is just another one of the things this frame tells me.
Troubleshooting
If you see a frame with a lot of cells that are capped, but look like they are domed, or “bulletted” as beekeepers call it, that is something to watch out for. It can mean one of two things. 1) Your queen has run out of sperm. She only mates once in her life, and she stores the sperm she will use to fertilize the eggs she lays. Male bees, or Drones as they are called, are the result of an unfertilized egg being laid. 2) You might have a laying worker situation to deal with. Check out this post on laying workers.
If you observe spotty brood, this also could be a symptom of a failing queen. She may not be able to lay a consistent pattern. If you consistently observe this, it may be time to requeen your hive.
If you see no brood at all, you may be observing a brood break, during early spring, a dearth (where there is little or no nectar for the bees to collect), or in preparation for winter, or you may have no queen at all. For more information about deciphering if you have a queenless colony, read this post.
Learning how to read frames is an invaluable beginning beekeeping skill. Brood frames are only one kind of frame. I will soon be posting about how to read a resource frame, so you can have an accurate picture of what is happening inside your hive.