Saturday, May 22, 2010

Congratulations to Green Hive Queen

It is confirmed. We are expecting.

On April 28 we had the help of a Master Beekeeper to inspect the green hive. There was no sign of a queen, no brood at all. There had been supersedure cells which indicated they were trying to rear a replacement queen. We waited to see if they were successful.

This week we placed an order for a queen and the provider advised that it takes several weeks for the new queen to get going and we should check again before picking up the new queen.
Today we opened the green hive and were so excited to find brood. Capped brood and larvae. There were probably eggs but they are so difficult to see. We did not waste time in the hive because it is an overcast day and they are struggling. We did not look for the queen as this can take quite a bit of time, unless you just get lucky.
There are three frames with brood. Nice honey arches and plenty of pollen.

We would have lost this colony if green queen had not gotten busy. Worker bees only live about six weeks during the busy season. They have to be raising their replacements before they all die off or you could loose the colony.
Yeah! This colony has a chance of surviving.

Yellow hive is thriving and we will soon add another brood chamber.

No comments:

Post a Comment