We have eggs
So I checked the new hives for a sign of a queen yesterday, they should start laying 6-10 days after being removed from the queen cage. I couldn't see any sign of eggs at all, lots of pollen, uncapped honey and the bees were calm. I found three of the five queens and if the queens were not present in the other two they would of been much more aggressive and upset. However they were very calm, I used a bit of smoke into the entrance but once the cover is removed I used a mist of sugar water from a squirt bottle I bought at the dollar store. I have found that the mist of sugar water seems to keep them calm and busy compared to the smoke. The smoke seems to keep them calm but they gorge themselves on honey and its hard to see into the comb as they are all trying to eat it in case of the pending fire (why else would there be smoke).
When using sugar water they go about their business and lick the sugar water off the frames and each other rather than focus on consuming honey. Mind you seeing that I do use a bit of smoke in the entrance at first they are after some honey but not many of them are. It makes it much easier to look for eggs in the cells, as they will move out of the way much easier.
So today I opened the hive that I was not able to find a queen, hoping that I might of been able to find her while the sun was still up. And I found eggs, lots and lots of eggs.
Once I found a frame with eggs I closed it back up and moved to one more just to have a look, this one I found the queen yesterday but no eggs. As with the other one, lots of eggs. I believe I couldn't find anything yesterday as it was very overcast and just finished a light rain. Also I had a veil on which I find very hard to look through and try to find very small eggs. Today I did not have a veil on as I did not think I needed one as these girls are quiet, so I will post some pictures tomorrow of my findings. I am glad that I found eggs as I was a bit depressed thinking that great I have queens that are damaged or lame. Oh well now things should start taking place as most of the brood has emerged and we are in need of more bees in the hives. Below is a diagram of the life cycle of bees, also another reason why I could not see any eggs yesterday is because there were no eggs. She might of just started to lay eggs today as Carniolans won't start laying eggs if it is cool out and we did just have a frost.
So today I opened the hive that I was not able to find a queen, hoping that I might of been able to find her while the sun was still up. And I found eggs, lots and lots of eggs.
Once I found a frame with eggs I closed it back up and moved to one more just to have a look, this one I found the queen yesterday but no eggs. As with the other one, lots of eggs. I believe I couldn't find anything yesterday as it was very overcast and just finished a light rain. Also I had a veil on which I find very hard to look through and try to find very small eggs. Today I did not have a veil on as I did not think I needed one as these girls are quiet, so I will post some pictures tomorrow of my findings. I am glad that I found eggs as I was a bit depressed thinking that great I have queens that are damaged or lame. Oh well now things should start taking place as most of the brood has emerged and we are in need of more bees in the hives. Below is a diagram of the life cycle of bees, also another reason why I could not see any eggs yesterday is because there were no eggs. She might of just started to lay eggs today as Carniolans won't start laying eggs if it is cool out and we did just have a frost.
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