A New Queen

We have experienced our first bee casualty! On Friday afternoon I inspected both hives to ensure that the queens were laying eggs and that everyone was working correctly. I have been nervous because one of the hives has shown much more activity on the outside with workers coming and going.

However, when I opened up what I thought was the weaker hive and pulled a frame out I saw something that made my afternoon....larva in the bottom of cells! This confirmed that the queen was out and laying eggs in the hive to increase it's size. I immediately pulled out each frame and located her walking around on an inner frame. After locating her I put that hive back together and went on to the other hive which has been showing so much more activity.

I opened up this hive with a bit more air of confidence (this one has had bees swarming everywhere), pulled my first frame, and saw capped honey/pollen being stored. This meant they were foraging and storing food but no larva were present on this frame. My first thought was "no biggee, the queen will just be on the next frame". I pulled the next frame out and saw more capped honey and pollen being stored. This process continued for all 10 frames until I recognized that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach...The queen was dead...

I immediately called Rick Cooper at Bees-N-ME and after talking with him decided to secure his last queen for purchase. Saturday morning I picked up the new queen and brought her home.


New Queen with worker attendants

Introducing a new queen can be tricky, and to help improve the odds that she will be accepted I sprayed down each frame of bees with the sugar water solution mixed with vanilla extract. This masks any scent from the old queen and helps create a smooth succession. Now the waiting game begins again.....


Bees feeding on 1:1 sugar water solution