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thinking
Not much happening with the bees – other than me trying to figure out what I’m going to do with them. I’ve been talking to Ken about how I should deal with the hives – well, the one hive in particular. My two hives have very different personalities, which I think can be attributed to genetics in a large way. The first hive does a really good job of reproducing – the queen lays eggs like no tomorrow, and the workers take care of them. Not so much honey, though. The second hive, full of honey! But not very many workers, when I compare it to the first hive. So…
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elusive
Every time I open my hives, I am on the lookout for my queens. It’s a good idea to know where they are, so they are not accidentally misplaced or incapacitated. However, for some reason the queen in my second hive seems to see me coming and vanish. I haven’t seen her since I installed the bees – that’s about a month. I know she’s there, I see the proof: there are always wee eggs in the comb, so I know she’s been there within 2 or 3 days. This hive is also my stronger hive, with more bees and more frames filled with brood and honey. They’re also the…
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marked
Can you find the queen? She’s a bit hidden, but you can tell which one she is. Here’s a better picture:She’s marked for easy identification purposes. It’s always a good thing to make sure you know that your queen is in the hive and well, not lost or squished. I’m not sure what this one was doing way over here on a pile of capped honey – maybe trying to hide from me, who knows. Usually she can be found on empty comb laying eggs, with workers bringing her food to eat, grooming her, and carrying away her poo. .