Flora and Fauna!!!

Two weeks ago we re-queened the original two hives, Flora and Fauna. We still have no idea what happened to the two Queens that came with the packages, but for whatever reasons, those Queens failed to lay eggs or be accepted by the colonies. We gave them plenty of time, but three weeks in there weas no sign of eggs, larvae or Queens in either hive.

We ordered two new Queens and placed them in the hives and a few days later they had been released.

Today (over two weeks later) we did an inspection on both hives to see what progress had been made. We REALLY hoped we'd find signs of eggs and larvae as we really need these colonies to build themselves up so there will be large numbers of bees for a big cluster in winter so they can huddle together to keep warm in Winter.

The bees will start dying off soon so new baby bees need to start being born quickly!

Well today we had a look and were so THRILLED to find baby bees developing in ALL stages! There were eggs, and larvae and capped brood - all stages :) In both hives :) This is sooooo wonderful :) Yay!!!We are thrilled :) It won't be long before there are baby bees :) So we have two wonderful Queens working hard for us in our hives :) And long may they last :)

So click on the pictures above to see them bigger and you will be able to see the eggs and larvae too. The eggs look like little grains of white rice in the cells. The larvae look like curled up maggots in the cells and are all different sizes :) When these get quite big the bees cap them and then they start developing into almost ready to be born bees :)

Amazing huh?