Today was my first official look inside the nuc. I was looking for one specific thing ....any guesses?...... that's right, a queen cell! It has been about 6 days since we took the *three (I know in the previous post I said two, but it was actually 3) frames from the mother hive. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I was unable to take a picture of the queen cells. However, I did observe three healthy-capped queen cells on the middle frame. This is a great indication that the bees are doing exactly what they are supposed to; in the absence of a queen they are making a new one. Because there are three queen cells there may be some bloodshed in the near future, remember only one queen reigns the hive. I'm expecting a new queen to be running the show in roughly 21 days. I'm not sure how old these queen cells are, but if I had to guess, a queen should hatch around March 26-29.
After googling a few images, I appreciated this one the most because of its resemblance to the cells I observed today.
http://www.tassotapiaries.com/images/Queen%20Cell%2004.JPG
Side notes:
-I'm feeding them on a daily basis. 1:1 sugar:water.
-I'm leaving the reducer on the front of the nuc because they are still too weak to defend themselves.
-Because of the uncertainty of my allergy I'm using a full bee suit which was kindly given to me by Jim the Bee Man. (I helped him take out about 100lbs of honey last weekend, lots of fun, but some other time/post)
-We now have two new hives being made. The hives are built, just remain untreated/unpainted. The plan is to eventually move my nuc into the hive when they are a stronger and more established colony.
-My Dad may want to remove one of the queen cells from the nuc. If we do anything I will post the pictures and explanations.
Until then, lets hope everything runs smoothly.
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