I had a surprise during today's inspection. I was looking at each frame when I spotted a bee with a green dot on it. I was pleased to see that. I hadn't noticed the dot when I put her into the hive. But as I started watching her, I realized this was the smallest queen I've ever seen! I began comparing her to other bees nearby and thought a mistake might have been made when marking queens.
So I kept going and a few frames further in and who do I see? Another queen who looked like a queen should look. Long and skinny. She was also marked in green. So I'm assuming that the marker must have hit the worker bee by mistake.
Otherwise, things looked really good in the hive. I want to do a powdered sugar check but want to wait until more bees hatch because I don't want to lose a bunch of bees yet. I wonder if I'm making a mistake and should do it sooner. I am thinking I could do it within a week or two.
Ants got into the sugar water but I have cleaned it and added more to keep them building comb. They are doing good but soon will need more space for hopefully more brood. Today I had a few frames in the center that were full of brood, nectar and pollen but more capped brood than anything else on these few frames.
Weather is now in the80's. We finally have a long spell of early summer weather for the next several days. They should thrive, as should the garden.
Planting is done, except the usual replacing a few that might have died already...like my cucumbers have. One tomato plant disappeared totally and don't see anything at all where the plant was. I kept a few spares so will put one in that place. Otherwise, things are coming along. I noticed beans and up now and carrots, seeds I had put in a few weeks ago.
So glad to finally have things under control. In the spring, there are so many chores to get things done. If we miss that window, we may as well kiss the season goodbye. It's short enough. But I've noticed myself relaxing and enjoying my space for now..
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