All four beehives are still alive. One of the two strongest hives mentioned in my previous bee post apparently had a queen die and is now rearing a replacement queen. As soon as I opened that hive I could tell something was off as most cells on all of the combs were filled with honey and had only a few capped brood cells. Then I found the queen cells which can be seen in the above photograph. Their locations on the edge of the comb seems a little odd for emergency queen cells, which are usually built in the center of the comb. These edge cells are more typical of a swarm, but that seems a little early for such a new hive and I think I would have noticed a swarm of bees. We shall see if this hive makes it.
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| The same comb in it's entirety. Most of the cell are either capped honey (on the top part of the comb) or filled with nectar being turned into honey. Of the few brood cells remaining (all capped), most of them are located on the edge of the comb. This is probably the last place eggs were laid before the queen died, which may explain why the emergency queen cells are also at the edge of the comb. |
The three remaining hives are currently doing well. A major honey flow which I suspect is mostly from honeysuckle flowers is currently winding down.
