The queen bees have come – with more still coming. The first queens have been placed in their hives (the splits I wrote about in the previous blog post), and are laying. This post covers how I put them in and the result.
I should have taken a photo of one of the queens and her attendants in her box. I got involved in my work and forgot to do that; so all these photos are from when I pulled the queen out.
My hives are all 10 frame hives. To install the queen in her hive I pull out one frame and open up the area in the center of the hive.
Workers check out now empty queen box
I place the queen’s box with candy up and the net area on the queen box facing towards the front of the hive.
The queen has been released
These queens came with candy plugs. I drop a drop or three of water onto the candy to dissolve it a bit and give the workers a start on freeing their queen.
After 4 to 5 days, I went back to pull the boxes.
Worker Bee Checks Out Empty Queen Box
I’m pleased to say that all the queens were released and all had started to lay eggs. One queen got a bit excited and layed two eggs in one cell and none in another cell. No problems, it happens when they’re just out of the box.
Eggs – With A Few Misses
The empty queen transport boxes were pulled out, but before I could push the frames together and replace the frame I had pulled for space, the burr comb had to be replaced. It is amazing how much comb the girls can build in four to five days.
Nine out of ten of these hives are doing fine. The second boxes have been put on; honey, eggs, and larvae are in place. One hive had queen failure. They let her lay some eggs, then she either died of travel stress or the bees killed her. I’ve some nice supercedure cells in that hive, so I will wait to see what the queens look like who emerge from them. I would always prefer 10 out of 10 on queen success, but I’ll take 9 out of 10.
How goes your summer work in the bee yards? Or how is the “winter’s coming” prep going down south?
Brookfield Farm Bees & Honey Blog 
It’s been very busy with our bees due to the mild weather this year.
It’s been crazy here as well – sun in northwest WA – always an amazing site before July – the bees love it.
It’s good that the bees are having a better year.