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Bees are really active today in Central pa.68 deg and more traffic than I have ever seen at the hive. What do bees look like before they get ready to swarm?? Is it too early for them to leave??
I opened the top box to look and lots of brood, when I pulled frames apart some big pupae fell out onto the floor... I guess they are just making cells between the frames or are these superceeder queen cells ... big eyes...do bees typically make brood comb between the frames in the upper hive body mid frame. The girls didn't like the pupae exposed and covered the ones that were still in cells. This is a nuc started last summer from a local breeder. I replaced a colony that had a non productive queen that slowly faded to a few hundred workers with no brood.
The new colony survived the winter well and they have been bringing in lots of pollen and eating everything I put in. They have been drowning in the neighbors fountain so I put a bucket of water about 20' away with a mesh in it to give them access but so far no takers. Maybe I should ask him to cover his fountain up for a few days to retrain the girls to find a new source?
Stressing out over queens...
Fish
Bees bees bees, feeding in the trees...
I opened the top box to look and lots of brood, when I pulled frames apart some big pupae fell out onto the floor... I guess they are just making cells between the frames or are these superceeder queen cells ... big eyes...do bees typically make brood comb between the frames in the upper hive body mid frame. The girls didn't like the pupae exposed and covered the ones that were still in cells. This is a nuc started last summer from a local breeder. I replaced a colony that had a non productive queen that slowly faded to a few hundred workers with no brood.
The new colony survived the winter well and they have been bringing in lots of pollen and eating everything I put in. They have been drowning in the neighbors fountain so I put a bucket of water about 20' away with a mesh in it to give them access but so far no takers. Maybe I should ask him to cover his fountain up for a few days to retrain the girls to find a new source?
Stressing out over queens...
Fish
Bees bees bees, feeding in the trees...