The first one will be another nuc -- these have worked out well for us so far. The other two will be packages that should be arriving this Saturday or Sunday. To get ready for them, Deno has been painting equipment and preparing sites.
We took a trip to see the second hive and it is doing quite well. We saw the queen almost right off and there are a lot of little larvae developing in nice patterns in the comb.
We realized on the last visit to the backyard hive that it seems to have a pretty sever mite infestation. This is a problem because the mites are infecting the larvae with a disease that causes stunted and misshaped wings. So we are going to be diligent about dusting all our colonies with powdered sugar to help them keep the mite populations at a minimum.
Here is a drone that was wondering on the gravel outside the hive and a worker bee with some powdered sugar. You can see the difference in size and shape and particularly how large the drone's eyes are compared with the worker bee.
When we dusted the colony they were a little frustrated with us and a lot of the bees that were at the top of the frames took off and started flying around. It is a good bet that a lot of these bees have not been out of the hive before, and of course we aren't really able to herd them back in before we close up. Fortunately, their sisters know what to do. The bees below with their tails in the air are releasing a the scent of the hive from their abdomens and fanning it out into the air with their wings so that any errant bees can find their way back to the hive by the smell.
On our way home, we discovered a large Pride of Madeira that was just covered with bees. Here we see a bumble bee and a honey bee (one of ours) sharing the tip of one of the spears of flowers.
They are perfectly content to share and don't bother one another in the slightest. Notice the bright lavender color of the pollen this one has packed on her legs. The pollen is used to feed the developing brood, so this time of year they are gathering large quantities to bring back to the hive.
Please visit our shop to purchase Noe Valley Honey and other hive products from the Pollen Princesses.
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