Sending eggs to the Moon

This is not some late Easter joke about the rabbit in the moon and what it does for Easter, but actually what we did today. As Goulwenn and I had our hands full with re-booting the Moon (so to speak), there aren't many photos. Here's why:
Having thought about the plight of the Moon over the weekend, it became clear to me that it did not have a queen, that the workers were starting to lay drones and that waiting any longer with re-queening them would not help anyone, least of all the bees. They might believe they are rearing new queens, but the fact that the hive was devoid of eggs except in the queen cells suggests there is no queen and these are merely misguided workers indulging in wishful thinking. Besides, the bees were getting decidedly aggressive, which was doing their reputation as honey sweet girls no good.
So, how to give them a queen? As bees can raise a queen from any egg, the solution is simple: you give them a frame with larvae and eggs on it from another hive. As the Star had been formed from the Moon, the Star now was to give back to the Moon.
This operation required that both hives be open at the same time, as we would take a frame from the centre of the Star and put it into the centre of the Moon, exchanging it for a frame from the edge of the Moon, which would go to the edge of the Star. This required a fair amount of frame shifting. I was at the Star and Goulwenn at the Moon and we exchanged frames while the bees looked on bemused. They were less aggressive than previously and, though we were stung, it was not quite so bad and afterwards the sweet bees did not follow us quite so far.

One hive open - the other to follow!

Having selected a good frame from the Star, I brushed off the bees (using a newly-purchased bee brush) and hung it to one side for later use. Meanwhile Goulwenn opened up the Moon and took out a frame from the edge and handed it to me. I inserted it into the Star before closing it. Half the operation done! Goulwenn then made space for the egg frame in the middle of the Moon and we slotted it in. We closed the Moon with a prayer that the bees would get the message and rear a queen. We shall see next week.

Finally, we had a look in the nuc. I decided to feed them, so they would draw out more comb, or have more of an energy boost, before their relocation at the weekend. The feeder I used is a contact feeder attached to a jar (it wasn't easy finding a jar that would fit the feeder, although it is sold as fitting most jars!). As this is quite high (and raises the roof substantially), I had to find other objects to hold the roof up. This is where toothbrush mugs and pen mugs came in handy.Plus they added a few interior decorating highlights to the hive, which the bees, all being female, surely appreciated!

The many uses of mugs
(the roof of the nuc goes over the mugs)