In Search of the Queen...

So tomorrow will mark the three week mark for Hive # 2 (you can read about the latest adventure with Hive #1 HERE!) and according to our favorite resources thus far this day should be a milestone of sorts. By this time we should see some evidence of a laying queen as well as see enough comb within the hive to believe the bees are settling in to their new digs. Courtney's phrase to me as we stood over the hive was "I've been thinking about this all day!" and I will admit I've been pretty excited about it myself! Prior to today, we've essentially left the hive alone except for a quick (and I mean quick!) opening of the hive one afternoon to remove the empty queen cage. That particular day was in the midst of what felt like the second coming of the flood and I had put it off for as long as I felt I could but I didn't linger in the hive due to the damp, coolness of the day.

So needless to say, I've looked forward to today...it is my first thorough inspection of our hive and I couldn't wait to take a peek!

Books, beekeepers and experts will tell you it's best to start a new package of bees with frames of old (but healthy) honey comb. There are several reasons for this. One is that bees like the stinky smell of old honey comb and have an easier time accepting their new home (kinda like us bringing mementos to unfamiliar places.) Another is simply a time issue. If a package of bees already has a place to begin laying eggs and storing food, then they can take advantage of the spring nectar flow much quicker and will ultimately allow for the possibility of getting a little bit of honey during the first year. But since we are brand new beekeepers we did not have the luxury of providing our bees with established frames of comb with which to get started. We had to start off with brand new frames and brand new wax foundation. What this means for us is that the process of brood building is going to be slower in the beginning. But considering this, I was still pleased with how things are progressing-take a look!

 

This is what we saw when we first opened the hive. Notice that the bulk of the bees are to one side. This tells me the queen is likely in this area.

 

 

We removed the frames in order and this was the third frame. Notice how the bees are building comb. They must do this before anything else can happen. You can see pollen in some of the cells. This pollen will be used to feed the baby bee larva.

 

 

 

When foraging bees bring the pollen back to the hive they scrape it off their legs and place it into an empty cell within the honeycomb (you can see the pollen on a foraging bees legs in the picture above.) Another bee will come by and pack down the pollen where it will begin to breakdown. Nurse bees will use this "bee bread" to convert it to royal jelly and feed it to the young larva for three days.

 

 

Look in the middle of this photo. Do you see the TINY, TINY rice like dot in the middle of a cell? That is a newly laid bee egg! These eggs are between 1 and 3 days old. Seeing this tells me there has been a queen laying eggs here within the last 36 hours...a great sign!

 

 

If you look inside these cells you can see the next stage of a bees development, called a larva. These bees are between 4-9 days old. Interesting fact: these bees will shed their skin five different times between hatching and emerging!

 

After the ninth day, these cells will be covered over with what will look like cardboard (it's actually wax and pollen) and the bees will go through the third stage of development, called a pupa. We saw no evidence of this stage inside the hive so this tells me the queen has been laying for less than nine days. This information is important to a beekeeper because it offers clues to the overall state of the hive.

 

 

I wanted to include this photo because the other pictures were close up shots of the activity within the hive. This is what one single frame looks like. There are ten of these inside the hive. Right now, the bees are working both sides of four of them. You can see the comb taking shape towards the bottom of the frame.

 

During our inspection today, we did not physically see the queen but we saw lots of evidence of her activity. For right now, this is enough. To our inexperienced eye, it is still difficult to spot her...so the search will continue!  We'll check the bees in a few days to see if we have bees in the pupal stage and to see if we see further evidence of the queen (and hopefully find the queen!) Until then, we'll simply keep feeding them a 1:1 sugar syrup mixture and give them some peace and quiet!