I did not expect much of this inspection, as last time we had left both hives with no queen. But I did have hopes that the Star might have a mated and laying queen. However, (main) purpose of the inspection was to bid a very fond and tearful farewell to Goulwenn, who has helped so much with the bees over the past year and more. Readers of this blog will know how invaluable his help has been. So, what I'd like to do today, after I have reported the little there is to report, is to give the floor to Goulwenn and photos of what was his last (regular) inspection of the school bees.
We started with the Moon and found, as expected, a whole host of queen cells. Some of these were architecturally questionable at best and we removed about six, leaving only one well-formed and well-situated cell.
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| Discarded queen cells - thus quickly is a palatial room destroyed! |
The Star was a bit of a surprise. While we found the empty queen cell and must therefore infer that the queen has hatched, she is not laying yet and we could not find her. However, we did find another sealed queen cell. This should not be if there is a viable queen in the colony. Having had so many difficulties with queens lately, we decided to leave the cell where it was and see what would happen (if we have any possibility of finding that out).
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| The mystery cell |
Hopefully, fingers crossed, next inspection I will see eggs in both hives.
And that's all about the inspection. I now give you Goulwenn, with heartfelt thanks and gratefulness.
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| Cap for additional head protection |
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| Goulwenn's unique tool hook technique |
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| Always careful not to squash any bees |
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| Thank you for all your help! |
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| Good bye - and hope to see you soon! |
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