A day full of anxiety

As they say in the NFL "upon further review" the hive appears alright. A few items were noticed on the pictures last night that had me worried. In the picture there were lots of drone brood and what apperaed to be a swarm cell. When you see lots of drone brood there is a problem with the hive as your queen is either dead or she has run out of stored sperm. So at best you have lost your queen and at worst you have a laying worker. A laying worker is one of the worst problems for a beekeeper as the hive believes they have a queen, but th eworker only lays drones. This problem is made worse, since the hive will not accept a queen due to the laying worker.

After a early call to John the Bee mentor, he was able to stop by the house after work. John and I gave the hive a good look. He said the hive looks great and we saw plenty of regular brood. I learned that drone brood is normal and plentyful at this time of year since all the drones have been kicked out of the hive during the cold winter months. Based on how the frames looked, John said I should expect 20,000 new bees within the next three weeks.

When it is time to requeen in the summer , I am going to purchase a queen from Weaver Honey in Navasota TX. Karen's grandmother was very good friends with the founders of Weaver Honey and she also lived in Navasota.

I am very relieved to learn that the hive looks good. This experience does have me thinking about a second hive. The second hive would give me something to check against. Depending on how much money Comrade Obama takes ont the 15th will determine if I purchase a second hive and a new bike.