The Birds And The Bees

Well, the bee hive continues to be a big question mark for now.  I confirmed that the queen had emerged from her cell, removed the langstroth frame, and added a couple of bars (for new building) with minimal manipulation on Monday.  On Saturday, we did a more thorough inspection of the hive, hoping we might observe the queen or evidence of new brood.

Nothing.

We didn't see any sign of Queen number 9, but we also observed normal, calm hive behaviour with a bustle of activity and no aggression.  I'll take that as a good sign, and leave things be for another week.  There aren't a lot more options now, as we are reluctant to buy another queen after losing our import to begin with, and it's getting rather late in the season for nectar flow and re-building the colony numbers.

Celine is still sitting on her eggs, and we *could* see chicks by the weekend.  We've set up a temporary shelter to move her (or likely the 2 older girls) into if she manages to hatch out any little ones.  We did attempt to candle the eggs to identify if we have any potential chicks on the way, but with very little experience and a normal flashlight, I couldn't say for sure what I was looking at.  Two of the eggs appear to match online diagrams showing a late death at 10-16 days, but I'm unwilling to risk viable eggs due to my own uncertainty. I won't be jostling the eggs again until I am sure they are no longer viable.

Another sunny, dry day in the garden... I broke down and got out the sprinkler on Sunday to supplement the drip irrigation lines.