An ageing population!

This week I purchased a plastic nuc box in the hope that we don't have to use it. After reminding ourselves how to put together the frames we have the nuc box ready to go at a moments notice.

Note to self: Don't leave wax sheets which have a low melting point in the car on the hottest day of the year.

We did an inspection of our hive today and the sealed Queen cell we left last week has now been chewed open. We know that there should be a Virgin Queen in our hive but still no sign of her.

There are plenty of honey stores however they have not started building in the super yet there is still space in the brood box.

We have seen no eggs or brood which is still worrying but have been informed that it can take up to a month  for a Virgin Queen to start laying. With the bank holiday coming up we hope to check on the hive on Friday, fingers crossed for us that the Queen is laying. We have the marker and cage ready for her once she is ready but aware that if we find her and mark her before her maiden flight she will have a bright yellow mark on her back for all the predators out there.

We also have a large amount of drones in the hive, last week we had a large amount of capped drone cells so this makes sense and is not a change. Currently no capped cells, eggs or lavae.

I think we have to now face up to the possibility that if our Queen isn't laying our hive has potentially only 30 days left. If there are no eggs on Friday we will have to consider making an emergency purchase of a mated Queen.