Top picture taken after my 10:30 AM hive inspection. Bottom picture taken just before inspection.
What did I find? Well, I found a lot of bees, moderately upset at my invasion but not overly so. I found a lot of either honey or syrup. I found some weirdo hard black capped something: dead brood? honey gone bad? dunno. I didn't see queen cups, and I didn't even look for the queen. Am I going to pull out 40 frames and look at each one carefully to see if there's one there? No way. It's all I can do to keep the damn smoker smoking. I saw a little pollen. All 40 frames in the bottom 4 boxes were filled. Five box, on top, had some nice comb but just a tiny bit. No sign of hive beetles, no bad smell. Swarm was now 5 days ago. Could a queen-less colony stay this populated for 5 days without a queen? dunno. Will the existing workers make a new queen? dunno. If they don't have brood they won't.
Am I discouraged? you betcha. Did I get a sting on my big toe? you betcha. Was I wearing socks and sandals instead of socks and shoes? you betcha.
Next step: take a shower, go work at the library for my volunteer day, and forget about the damn bees for 4 or 5 hours.
5 comments:
Don't be discouraged! I don't think you'd have that much activity with no queen. Not that I'm any more of an expert than you are. Went to a class last night on harvesting honey. Very cool!
"I don't think you'd have that much activity with no queen." Really?? Ya think?? Maybe I shouldn't give up. Even though I said I wouldn't worry about the bees while I was working at the library, of course I did. And I came to the conclusion that I must Re-Queen. I even began to like the idea: Re-Queening sounds pretty classy, and something all beekeepers should know how to do. But I'm going to wait a week and then do another inspection. Meanwhile I'll find something else to fret about. There's always something to worry about.
I'm so sorry your queen left! If there were a hallmark card for such an occasion, I'd send it. Happy Re-Queening?
Oh my, a few days have passed since you wrote this - what's going on with the bees?? Are they queened again?
I'm afraid one of our hives is failing to thrive. The other one is busy as ever, bearding and all. Too quiet next door though.
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