I checked through the hive records last night and it seems the paint - though possibly the culprit in the latest episode of reginicide - is not to blame. Here are the facts:
Moon queen marked on 20th April, still laying on 30th April and probably gone 7th May, definitely gone 15th May.
Star queen marked 27th May, still laying 9th June but gone by 30th June.
2nd Star queen marked 30th June, gone by 9th July.
2nd Moon queen marked 18th July- and we know what happened to her.
What is shocking in this is that the hives have been through four queens already this year, but even more astonishing is that from 7th or 15th May till beginning July the Moon had no laying queen (though never any apparent decrease in numbers of bees in the colony) and - for whatever reasons - failed to raise a queen once. Drift from the Star could have kept bee numbers up, but it is extraordinary for the colony to survive six weeks queenless I would have thought.
Or did they raise a queen in the middle of that time who laid for a few days and then was dispatched unceremoniously?
Back to a very clueless square one...
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