It appeared two weeks ago, upon examining the hives that the current queen, Heather had either absconded or simply been smashed when we tried to reverse the hive bodies.
Unfortunately, although there were plenty of eggs at the time the bees did not see fit to raise a new monarch and when we opened the hive there was no brood whatsoever.
We originally were going to trade for a frame of eggs and brood from another local beekeeper in Glen Park, but then heard about a couple who had unnecessarily ordered a new queen for their hive in the avenues. I contacted them and took Muni out to their house last Friday to pick her up. We installed the queen in her cage the next morning and dubbed her Agnes - as in Gooch from Auntie Mame. "I liiiived! I need to know what I should do now!"
Whilst I am away this weekend, Deno will go and check on the hive to make sure the queen has been released and is laying eggs and do a third dusting of powdered sugar to keep the mites in check before the fall.
He'll also be able to take the empty honey super we put on top of the hive for cleaning and pack it away.
I imagine we'll get one final batch of the really tasty honey (maybe a gallon or so) before the season is over so stay posted.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
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Urban beekeeping in San Francisco.
Our bees create 100%
natural, raw, wildflower honey in Noe Valley. We take it
from them as available and lightly filter it so the flavor
of the neighborhood is evident through each season.
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