First signs of dementia??????????????
PostPosted:11 Jul 2020, 17:16
The fourth colony I inspected today was a bit of a puzzle....
The queenright half of a split, I last saw the queen two weeks ago when both I and the Bee Inspector noted 3 queencells. We decided to leave them as it seemed that supercedure was taking place. Today, I found two queencells empty and lost the third although for some days (in a very wet week) I have heard queens tooting.
Today's inspection was a dream although no open brood at all but the bees were absolutely calm - and I heard a tooting again.
One hour later they suddenly poured out and a swarm that was bigger than I imagined to be more than the entire hive to contain appeared overhead.
Too high to reach; so I settled into a comfy folding chair and watched as a few bees inspected the NUC I place as high as possible - but not really enough and at 5 p.m. I came in.......
So what was all the "OK, I am going in, you are on your own, take it or leave it, I don't care if you freeze up there...... "about
The queenright half of a split, I last saw the queen two weeks ago when both I and the Bee Inspector noted 3 queencells. We decided to leave them as it seemed that supercedure was taking place. Today, I found two queencells empty and lost the third although for some days (in a very wet week) I have heard queens tooting.
Today's inspection was a dream although no open brood at all but the bees were absolutely calm - and I heard a tooting again.
One hour later they suddenly poured out and a swarm that was bigger than I imagined to be more than the entire hive to contain appeared overhead.
Too high to reach; so I settled into a comfy folding chair and watched as a few bees inspected the NUC I place as high as possible - but not really enough and at 5 p.m. I came in.......
So what was all the "OK, I am going in, you are on your own, take it or leave it, I don't care if you freeze up there...... "about