larvae, oh yay!

Finally! We have larvae and more eggs! It looks like all different stages of larvae. The hive is weak. As I was trying to get the photo of the dark orange pollen on an incoming worker we saw two bees come out of the hive and die.
The bee inspector said we had some tracheal mites....
BUT we have had these bees with no replacements
since 4/26, 36 days. Now we have no idea how old they actually are. During honey flow they live 6 weeks.

here's Missy

eggs!!

Sorry no photos of the girls today. But we finally have some eggs! We only checked a couple frames. The population is sparse with no new bees hatching yet. Everyone is very busy. Better not disturb them too much. They have a lot of work to do. This I photographed on my daily walk. It's growing on a stump next to a stream in the parking lot where I work.

almost out

We have still been feeding the sugar syrup. We checked and they are almost through the candy. Jim pushes a nail through just to break it up a little. The pieces are big enough that she still can't get out just yet. We'll close it up and check again on Saturday if the weather is nice.

introducing....the new queen

This queen cage has no hanger on it. So trusty assistant makes
a frame to set on the brood box just thick enough to put th

e cage on top of the frames. They were on the cage before I let go of it! Wow! That hole on the end is only large enough for one bee at a time to go in and eat a little of the sugar candy that is blocking that end of the cage. At this point they are trying to reach the queen to kill her. By the time they do reach her they more than likely will accept her as their queen. So again we cross our fingers and hope for the best.

checking again

We have checked each frame at least twice.
It's pretty hard to miss that green dot.
She is just not here. We'll have to put the new queen in tomorrow, can't keep her in the house forever.

where is she

We have to remove the old queen and wait at least 24 hrs before introducing the new queen. But....where is she?

we have a problem

There are no eggs! No brood anywhere! The bee inspector checked the hive and it's weak. It appears the queen is lame. She is dragging the right side of her body, and her abdomen is not swollen at all. He has called the man for a new queen.

busy bees

The girls have been very busy! See the lovely comb. Wow! This frame is very heavy.



This is blurry, but... see the green dot? That's the Queen.




Click on the photo to see the pollen
on in the pollen basket on the bee to the far left. And the guards fanning pheromones to direct the incoming bees.

Where's the Queen

We let the queen out of her cage on the 30th. Today, Sat 5/2 there is a the first outdoor meeting of the season. WCBA , Worcester County Bee Association. But first we need to check on our girls and see how they are doing. We decide we needed to use the smoker....must be a trick...can't keep it going... We locate the queen quickly, remember she has a green spot on her head. Wanted to take more photos....but trusty assistant had an accident. He dropped one of the frames covered in bees! " DON'T PANIC" I said! We put the frame back in the brood box and close up the hive. See them on the ground. Believe it or not, none of them take flight. They all begin marching toward the front of the hive! Amazing! Off we go to the WCBA meeting. Exciting! Six hives were opened. The day warmed up. The sun was shining and the bees were flying! We got to see close up drone cells and queen cells and what to do to help keep the hive from swarming. Of course still not knowing alot about this camera... two pictures and the battery dies!