We had our supercedure and in our last post we had seen our new virgin queen.
She wasn't a virgin for long as 10 days ago our hive was flooded by drones. Every other bee entering the hive was a drone and when opening the hive they were all over the combs. We didn't witness the mating flight but suddenly around 8 days ago the drones all left. Job done.
Having been warned that the queen could be laying immediately, soon or even up to 6 weeks.... so we entered the waiting game.
And at the weekend we had eggs. There were eggs on frame 4, on frame 5 and on frame 6. This queen is laying.
There were other tell tale signs too... firstly the bees were back to their calm attitude. We didn't need any smoke to move them around. They just aren't interested in us or their inspection. Secondly they had cleaned out the central cells of many of the frames, echoing the brood space we had seen before. Finally, the drones had left - I only just learned that 'wherever they lay their hat is their home'.
Although this is a great step forward for Queen Julie (OK, I'm a girl and I name my queens) it is only the next step. We need to check the brood is capped 'normally' to prove the mating was successful. Another week of patience is required.
She wasn't a virgin for long as 10 days ago our hive was flooded by drones. Every other bee entering the hive was a drone and when opening the hive they were all over the combs. We didn't witness the mating flight but suddenly around 8 days ago the drones all left. Job done.
Having been warned that the queen could be laying immediately, soon or even up to 6 weeks.... so we entered the waiting game.
And at the weekend we had eggs. There were eggs on frame 4, on frame 5 and on frame 6. This queen is laying.
There were other tell tale signs too... firstly the bees were back to their calm attitude. We didn't need any smoke to move them around. They just aren't interested in us or their inspection. Secondly they had cleaned out the central cells of many of the frames, echoing the brood space we had seen before. Finally, the drones had left - I only just learned that 'wherever they lay their hat is their home'.
Although this is a great step forward for Queen Julie (OK, I'm a girl and I name my queens) it is only the next step. We need to check the brood is capped 'normally' to prove the mating was successful. Another week of patience is required.
