I inspected the little hive at Burr Farm and I did my normal routine. I get to the hives, check to see what they are doing. Who is coming and going of the hives, if they are bringing any pollen in, etc. I stood there and watched the little hive for a few moments, watching the back entrance; one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi….three hundred Mississippi, not a bee went in or out of the entrance. I was thinking to myself, this is not good. They must have starved or they are very weak and I haven’t figured out my plans B, C, D for this situation. My plan was to give them a pollen patty (combination of sweet sugary bee food and a pollen substitute) to help boost the queen’s laying. Was I too late?
The only way to know is to get into the hive to check and see what they are doing, if they are doing. So I popped the top and through the little hole of the inner cover, I didn’t immediately see any bees. Then a little hope came through that cover, there was one little bee that popped her head out and flew out. I took off the cover and noticed a a cluster of bees on a coupe of frames. That is a good start. I was pulled out one of the frames and noticed nectar on it. That is even better, they are gathering resources. But that is enough to get this colony going? I needed to see eggs or larva to know that the queen is laying but I saw better than that. I saw capped brood! Not a lot, but it means on my last inspection I missed the eggs and larva that were present. I was very excited, I even did a little dance in bee yard area. I am so happy that is colony is moving in the right direction. It wasn’t until I closed up the hive, that the worker bees decided that fly in and out of the entrance. I wonder if they were toying with me?
I purchase this queen in queen in the middle of June and now at the end of July, the queen is starting to lay. As long as the queen bee has her attendants she can survive for a while, but the queen still needs a colony in order to do the daily chores for the colony to thrive. I’m not out of the woods with this colony and there is a lot of build up to do with a limited time. I’m one step ahead and there are many things that might make this colony go backwards. I have a lot of thoughts to process for the next steps ahead. Let’s hope the next choices I make are the right ones. 🤞
I will leave you with some pictures of things I look for while inspecting hives for laying queens. Thank you for reading and 🐝 kind.
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