We checked our hives the other day and one of them (the white one) is doing so well its crazy - tons of bees and tons of honey. The yellow one has at least half the activity. So we looked closely and don't see any eggs - which means no queen.
Jim went on a hunt for a new queen and found a guy in Walnut Creek that sells bees, including queens. So Jim went ripping up there today and got a new queen. It was interesting because the beekeeper guy is in a wheel chair so Jim had to do the work. But he was super knowledgeable and Jim was soaking it all up. And then Jim told him about Canine Companions as a resource if he was interested in a service dog. The world works in mysterious ways....
Anyway - Jim shows up with the new queen and we place her on top of the hive for 20 minutes to see what happens. If she was being attacked then we would leave the cork on the cage in for a day or so. If she was not being attacked, we take the cork out and let the bees eat thru the candy and release her. After 20 minutes, all was peaceful. So she is in her cage, in the hive, waiting to be released.
If this queen is accepted by the hive, she will be named Queen Ruth after the Queen of Botswana who I saw on a business trip to Malaysia in the late 1990's.
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