06/16/2008

I checked my girls out today and found 4 new capped queen cells. I also have about 3 that are in the process of getting capped. Its kind of neat to watch. The girls are staying busy at least. I did manage to get a sizable increase in numbers before this all transpired so at least I have that to fall on while they re-queen. I dont see too much drone laying going on so thats good. the cells that I thought were drone may end up being attempts at queens. I checked pretty good for eggs and larva and found zero. Im confident that the original queen is dead. I do have lots of food stores. They have a bee sized truck load of pollen and nectar as well as plenty of capped honey. Once the queens hatch out and mate there should be plenty of food for a few generations of brood. One thing that I did was to put all of their drawn and used comb back together. I had mistakenly thought that it was wise to separate frames of brood comb so that the girls will draw out the empty frames. I wasnt supposed to do that. I was only supposed to separate empty and full comb that has been drawn. I think that I am the cause of my own misfortune. Live and learn I guess. Im seeing some more comb get drawn on my empty frames. Its not perfect comb but its getting drawn. the cells sizes are ok, but the depth is not consistent. if you look at it from the side the surface is wavy. I hope to see some new eggs soon.