The Keeper
Old or inexperienced new queen bees fail to fill all the cells on a brood frame.
© University of Manitoba
Queen Productivity
Ensuring that the colony has a healthy and productive queen is another of the beekeeper's most important tasks. Each time he or she checks the hives, the beekeeper needs to make sure that there are eggs in the comb. A productive queen lays eggs in a compact and consistent pattern: if the beekeeper sees an uneven pattern in the brood chamber, it could be time to introduce a new queen to the hive.
If the queen does not lay enough eggs, the colony will not be strong enough to survive.
