.. And a royal birth on the way
MY MENTOR reckons that honeybees don't read the same book as experts so when the impossible happens then don't be too surprised.
I had just told him that I thought my swarm had swarmed ... again! Everyone I'd spoken to in the world of beekeeping said this was a nonsense and that there must be another explanation.
All I know is that the National which contained them was a hive of activity last week and now it looks as though a large number of the occupants have buzzed off and taken their Queen with them.
Hubby and I took a look inside and saw lots of yummy honey sealed in the supers but when we went into the brood chamber there was only a few thousand bees ... considerably less than when the swarm from Ayr first arrived.
Since day one, this colony has caused me angst because I couldn't find the queen which spawned several theories that maybe she'd died, that she could be a virgin queen, that she could've been eaten by a bird during her mating flight, that the eggs we saw were being laid by worker bees. Much to our relief hubby and I finally spotted her last week and so we resolved to leave the hive well alone.
I'm not sure if all our prodding and poking around has unsettled the colony or if the arrival of four other hives has made competition for food too high. I really don't know and neither does our mentor but one thing is clear - they occupants of the hive above have buzzed off!
And those left behind are fully prepared for regime change. Six queen cups we saw on one frame now contain larvae making them Queen cells and several other sealed Queen cells have also been spotted. So what does this all mean? Well a royal birth is imminent and I'm not talking about William and Kate's impending arrival. A new queen is going to emerge in our apiary in the next few days and when she does stand by for more drama than a Tarantino film. First she will set about killing off her rivals before they have a chance to emerge from their cells. It will probably be the only time the Queen will use her sting and, unlike the worker bees, deploying it will not kill her. If two Queens emerge around the same time expect a battle royal - there can only be one winner.
After a fight to the death she then leaves the hive for her mating flight when she will mate with several or more drones. Having performed for their Queen they will die as a result and she will return to the hive and set about repopulating it laying up to one to two thousand eggs a day!
According to our calculations the new Queen will emerge from her cell on July 22/23 and then, weather pending, she will mate with several drones around August 1 before launching her prolific egg laying program around August 8. So during that time I'll be looking for tell-tale signs such as bees gathering pollen; the food needed to rear the new generation, the first of which should start to appear 21 days later towards the end of August.
MY MENTOR reckons that honeybees don't read the same book as experts so when the impossible happens then don't be too surprised.
I had just told him that I thought my swarm had swarmed ... again! Everyone I'd spoken to in the world of beekeeping said this was a nonsense and that there must be another explanation.
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GROUND HOG DAY: The National in the foreground
where the swarm from Ayr appears to have swarmed again!
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Hubby and I took a look inside and saw lots of yummy honey sealed in the supers but when we went into the brood chamber there was only a few thousand bees ... considerably less than when the swarm from Ayr first arrived.
Since day one, this colony has caused me angst because I couldn't find the queen which spawned several theories that maybe she'd died, that she could be a virgin queen, that she could've been eaten by a bird during her mating flight, that the eggs we saw were being laid by worker bees. Much to our relief hubby and I finally spotted her last week and so we resolved to leave the hive well alone.
I'm not sure if all our prodding and poking around has unsettled the colony or if the arrival of four other hives has made competition for food too high. I really don't know and neither does our mentor but one thing is clear - they occupants of the hive above have buzzed off!
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HONEY A PLENTY: But no Queen and
no brood for some weeks to come
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| KEY PLAYERS: The occupants of a hive |
According to our calculations the new Queen will emerge from her cell on July 22/23 and then, weather pending, she will mate with several drones around August 1 before launching her prolific egg laying program around August 8. So during that time I'll be looking for tell-tale signs such as bees gathering pollen; the food needed to rear the new generation, the first of which should start to appear 21 days later towards the end of August.
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