April 12, 2018 Update - I checked 2017 Hive and 0318 Hive. 0318 Hive was doing fine but the 2017 Hive did not have brood and did not see a queen. I called Mr. Ellis and he came by late afternoon with a queen and to help me check both hives. Neither of us saw a queen in 2017 Hive and he agreed she must be gone. So we put the new queen in the 2017 Hive. Sat her on top of the super and put a small frame box (about 1-2") on top and closed the hive. This will give the bees room to take care of the queen, get the candy from the box and release the queen.
We did see the queen in 0318 Hive - it's always exciting (nerd alert!).
The weather has been cold and very windy so I have not checked the hive. Will do tomorrow (the 18th) since the temps will be in the 70's or higher. I'm still continuing to feed all the hives. They are slowly taking the sugar syrup.
April 20, 2018 Update - On Wednesday, I opened 2017 Hive, the queen was still in her little box so I took the screened top off and she went inside the hive. I was more careful when opening and releasing since I lost a queen last year - didn't want to make the same mistake again.
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| Queen Bee |
So all the hives are working, still feeding and hope we have warmer and more consistent weather soon. I covered my ferns again last night and will tonight since it'll be in the 30's again. Have a couple of tomato plants but will wait another week or so before putting them out.
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| 2018 Marked Queen |
When buying a Queen, they are marked with a dot of paint on their thorax. The color code indicates the birth year of the queen - red is the color for queen bees for 2018. Makes the Queen a little easier to find in the hive.
These are photos from the internet. Just wanted to have an example of what the queen cage looks like and also a marked queen.
