Life and Another Bee Adventure

Life happens, doesn’t it?  Sometimes it’s smooth sailing but at times it’s a rough and rocky road.  One thing I can always count on is the respite from day to day life when I step into the bee yard.  The focus and concentration necessary when inspecting my bee hives leaves no room for straying thoughts. A recess if you will.  If nothing else the problem solving that goes along with keeping bees captures all of my brain waves during the time with my bees.  I can always count on another bee adventure when I step into the apiary.

Upon my latest inspection there were a couple of fascinating observations.  One, I spotted a lime green liquid amongst the pollen and honey stores.  Never before have I noticed this color in any hive.  What could it be?  Gatorade?  Popsicles?  These girls are drawn to sugary treats.  See the green color in the cells above?  It rather looks like green jello too.  This may be one question I’ll never be able to answer.  Life with bees!

The more pressing problem I discovered was the lack of a queen in the hive.  No signs of one anywhere.  No brood anywhere and that is a sure sign that the queen is gone.  Where ? You may ask.  I do not know.  Either she swarmed with a portion of her colony or something just went wrong.  The saving grace is that I did locate a small queen cell with an egg inside.  Now I play the waiting game for 14 days to see if in fact the cell is closed up and a queen emerges. Yet another bee adventure!

In the photo above see the round basket shaped cell?  That is where there is an egg – hopefully one that is being fed royal jelly and in a few days will turn into a queen.  If it is to be a queen the cell will be finished and capped to look something like a peanut.  The positioning of the cell is conducive with the production of a new queen.  So what do I do ?  Hold my breath and check in a few days to see what’s taken place.  Below please enjoy a short video of the girls clamoring around the cell doing what bees do.

Queen Cell Movie

The timing of all this isn’t playing out as I’d like as my guess is she is set to emerge just after we leave for a trip.  I’ll keep my fingers crossed that when I return I’ll find a young healthy queen busily laying her eggs and holding court over a thriving hive.

If you are a beekeeper and have ever seen green liquid in your hive please tell me what you concluded!  Just post a comment in the comment section – I’d be most appreciative!