Queen outside hive entrance!

[Floss]

I had been a bit concerned last week to find no brood, no eggs and seemingly very relaxed, chilled out bees seemingly having stopped storing honey etc. Oh and QC's...this is the colony that apparently swarmed a couple of weeks ago but there still seemed to be thousands of bees left so we were not sure whether the swarm was from this hive!

Having a quick glance at bees congregating at the entrance of the "old" colony on sunny saturdayI was amazed to see "the" queen as she disappeared into the entrance - they were noisy (? drones) but not overly so and there were no more bees around than I would usually expect to see on a sunny day.

Am I right in assuming that I may have seen the now ex virgin queen returning from a mating flight?

If so I am very chuffed to have had the privilige to have witnessed this and more pleased that this once busy colony may burst into activity once more!

Floss

 

[BKF Admin]

It sounds like it floss.

It is suprising how often you will see a queen return from a mating flight if you are around your hives mid afternoon on a warm day.

Sometimes you can also see her with a trail of white hanging from the rear end.

She will often land and then take a few moments to compose herself before entering the hive.

Good luck for seeing eggs next wekend

Yes the noise you hear are the Drones returning,It always reminds me of a Battle of britain airfield when I hear them returning,sad thing is the ones that return have not completed their mission..

 

[Floss]

How fantastic - now just need some warm,sunny days!