Rain

This morning I headed down to the hives to see what was happening. It was raining quite heavily so I knew the bees wouldn't be flying. All was quiet down there. The bees in 'Flora' were busy housekeeping while there was bad weather and were cleaning out bits of wax and a dead bee. Hive 2 (still to be named...hmmmm what to name it????) was just quiet....I didn't lift the lid or anything as I didn't want to chill it. I just left them be. Maybe I'll give them some more syrup tonight if the rain keeps up. 'Flora' isn't taking much syrup now that there is pollen around but if it rains for several days they won't be able to get out anyway....but then maybe they will focus on comb building and getting the Queen laying...

I finished reading the novel 'The Secret Life of Bees' today. Wonderful novel! One part puzzled me though - and that was near the end, when August ordered a new Queen from a Queen supplier. The thing is, August is a beekeeper with HUNDREDS of hives and in her position, would have easily been able to requeen one single hive from one of the other hives sooooo easily! There would have been no need to buy a Queen from a supplier! Or the hive itself would have requeened itself....it puzzled me.