Rebellion Supressed…I think

The weather in Varina has been outstanding this Fall, with cool weather and occasional rain. The buckwheat that I planted in August has really shot up and is blooming right now. The other good thing about the cool weather is that I can put on the bee armor this week, without any discomfort. After the attack last weekend, I am definitely going in with some cover and smoke this time.

I started with taking a look at Hive 2, to see how the rebellion to overthrow the queen was coming along. Although I never found my queen, I did locate three queen cells. Two were in the center of frames, indicating supercedure, but one appeared to be on the bottom of the frame as well, making me wonder what was going on. A bottom cell is ‘supposed’ to mean that a swarm is forming, but this hive is barely working 8 frames. They have not touched either of the far frames on one side and have only partially covered the last two frames on the other side. It’s like they do not like that other side. Regardless, they definitely do not have enough honey to make it through the Winter. I will be feeding these monkeys all year long, assuming they live.

Or Did She Already Emerge?

It was about 12 days ago that I noticed the original queen cell. As I really have no idea what I am doing, I suppose there is a distinct chance that she was in egg form at 2 or 3 days of age at that time. This would mean that she might have emerged over the last couple of days and killed my main queen (I never saw the main queen during this inpsection.) Even seeing eggs in the cells would not tell me much.

The key will be my next inspection, when I absolutely need to find the Queen. I cannot say that I will be able to act on this knowledge, as it is so late in the year, but at least I will know. If my queen has been killed, the next question will be if the new queen successfully mated or not. The key will be in finding eggs next weekend, assuming that I cannot find the queen. I can say one thing for sure, I will be bringing the following equipment to make sure that I am ready for a thorough inspection.

  1. Make sure the sun is available to shine into the frames, so I can see eggs
  2. Wear a glove on my right hand, so I can use my tool to examine the frames without worrying about dropping them, and without worrying about the pain to my hand when I hold the thing
  3. Bring a camera to take some pictures

Hive 1

I did not really do a thorough investigation, but a brief look into the honey super indicated that not much was going on. I am not even sure if they have drawn out the comb yet. I guess they would have had to do some major work to actually draw out that comb in a week, but I was curious. I am now thinking that my best case scenario will simply be for them to draw out the comb (sans honey), which will save them some time next year when they go into Honey Storage work in the Spring.

Next week, I will continue the thorough check of Hive 2 and probably leave Hive 1 alone until the following week.