Nuc Action

When a hive is queen-right, there is a certain rhythm to the activity. The bees are contently doing their jobs. But when a queen is not present, that rhythm is disrupted. By pulling a couple frames of brood to create a nuc, I certainly disrupted the rhythm of the hive for those queenless bees and they spent Sunday setting things right again. There was no activity in or out of the nuc. Those few forager bees that departed on Saturday probably returned to the donor hive.

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day of warm sunshine after overnight rains and the bees in the donor hive were busily coming and going. I was pleased to see that many bees from the nuc were doing the same. Some were clearly taking orientation flights. Others were returning from foraging. I wonder if the foragers were of the right age to now be doing so or if they were suddenly promoted because the hive needed foragers. Whatever the reason, the hive did seem as though it was now set to right. I'm certain they have selected a few new queens and rhythm has been restored to the hive.