it's been 2 weeks since we divided the hive, and we decided to do an inspection today. Based on the date we think the queen cell was sealed, we weren't expecting to see eggs yet. (We think she was sealed on 11 June ish, meaning she would have emerged on 19th June-ish, and won't be ready for mating yet).
The inspection went well. The bees were really calm. They haven't done anything in the Super yet, and we found that they had packed the brood box with stores. There were a number of demolished queen cells. There were plenty of bees, but not as many as we had been expecting. That could be because
(a) we divided the hive
(b) lots of the bees were out foraging
(c) maybe we had an extra queen cell or we hadn't lost the original queen after all, and so perhaps we've had a swarm go
If it's C, then that's actually good news as they wouldn't have swarmed if there was no queen to leave behind.
We'll do another inspection in a week or so. And we'll inspect HIve 2 later this week.
The inspection went well. The bees were really calm. They haven't done anything in the Super yet, and we found that they had packed the brood box with stores. There were a number of demolished queen cells. There were plenty of bees, but not as many as we had been expecting. That could be because
(a) we divided the hive
(b) lots of the bees were out foraging
(c) maybe we had an extra queen cell or we hadn't lost the original queen after all, and so perhaps we've had a swarm go
If it's C, then that's actually good news as they wouldn't have swarmed if there was no queen to leave behind.
We'll do another inspection in a week or so. And we'll inspect HIve 2 later this week.
