What is a sign of a failing queen?

A spotty brood pattern is indicative of a failing queen because it often signals that the queen is not laying eggs consistently or is unable to produce enough viable eggs. When a queen begins to decline in health, her laying pattern becomes irregular, resulting in areas within the brood frames that are either empty or contain eggs and larvae of varied ages. This contrasts with a solid brood pattern, where the queen is healthy and laying eggs uniformly, resulting in a visually consistent appearance of brood cells.

A spotty pattern, therefore, is a key observation for beekeepers monitoring the health of their queen. It can lead to other issues in the hive, such as an insufficient workforce or reduced hive population, which ultimately jeopardizes the colony's strength and productivity. Other factors may indicate issues within the colony, like low honey production or an excess of drone brood, but these do not specifically point to the queen’s fertility and overall health as directly as the brood pattern does.