Sofia, my new Russian-Carniolan queen, is doing quite well. In this photo, her attendants are surrounding her in classic style. She is extremely vigorous compared to the older queens. I'm going to order a couple of replacement queens, and keep one of the older girls in a smaller hive for emergencies.
The queen cells that were in the Boudicca/Isolde combined hive were all open. Last week, one of the baby queens was piping from her cell, preparing to emerge and duke it out with any rivals. Today I didn't see any royalty or eggs, so am not sure if any of the new girls are still around. The bees seem contented, though. I added another frame of brood to keep them going. One of the planned new queens may go into this hive.
Because of all the dividing and combining of hives a couple of weeks ago, they have all become little Bee UNs, with Russian-Carniolans living in peace with Italians.
My Wilbur Widangy method for reinforcing some drone comb.
This is the burr comb which I found hanging from a lid a few weeks ago. It doesn't look any different from April 17, except that the brood is growing up (the bees are covering it). The bees had taken it upon themselves to make some drone comb. Today I opened some capped cells, and was pleased to find that the mite infestation has dramatically declined. Mite drop on the sliding board is also down to no more than a few dozen, compared to hundreds. I like to think it is due to my homemade essential oil mix. It's worth continuing and collecting more data.
Have you ever wondered where honey mustard dressing came from?
Your blog is amazing. Just mesmerizing. Loved it. Keep writing.
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