As we had expected, hive A1N had not started building any new foundation, though the girls had drawn out the existing comb and built up a little bur comb ( bee filler ) here and there.They had taken care of the eggs we put inside Monday which have now hatched in to larva. It is too soon to tell which of the new larva cells are being built out to raise queens, perhaps our next inspection in a weeks time should reveal these peanut shaped cells. The hive seems to be quite healthy and happy despite not being 'queen right' ( the term used to refer to a hive with a queen ), so we are hoping they should do well until they have raised their queen. We have decided to keep feeding them syrup even though they are slowing down on this sugar diet.
Hive A2N is strong and healthy and has started to build on to a new foundation-less frame. We still have yet to spot our elusive queen, but we know she has to be there somewhere as there are plenty of new eggs. On one of the older frames there are three large tear shaped combs that have been drawn right though an adjacent foundation-less frame. This extended comb must be removed, but as it has plenty of eggs we decided to attach it to the bottom of a new foundation-less frame in the second chamber right above the hole of the inner cover. Hopefully the bees will climb up through the hole and take care of the eggs as well as encourage them to move up into their second story.
Posted by John Rodgers
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