07/04/2026
🙋🏻♀️
It’s been a while…
I’m still here, keeper of my bees….
It’s been a trash spring. I know, I know, i don’t have to tell anyone that!
But one good thing about this spring is that I over wintered all my hives except one!! Yup!! I had 5 survive the winter and they thrived, so naturally I made splits. (Made baby hives from the big thriving hives) I did this about four weeks ago. But once I made them, the weather was all sorts of nasty so I hadn’t been able to check them, make sure the queens were laying and make sure they weren’t over crowded if she was.
Low and behold, I brought them home last night and today rehomed them into full sized hives. Straight into double brood chambers because 5 of six splits had over 5 frames of brood laid and swarm cells galore. (Swarm cells are new queens about to be hatched, the worker bees make them to signal each other that they will be leaving their hive for a bigger space) I sure hope I scraped off every swarm cup I found and that putting them into a bigger environment will make them happy enough to not leave my hive!! Time will tell.
But look at them. They were wondrous. They were calm. They were such a pleasure to work with. It took me a couple hours but I wouldn’t have minded if it took me a couple more.
Bring on the sun! These beautiful girls need it to stay healthy and fed.
Ps- can you see the queen with the big bum on the end of my frame? So glorious! These golden coloured queens are simply my fave 😍
