Mentors are everywhere! At work yesterday, by pure happenstance, I found myself on the phone with Chip Whipkey, President of the Association of Southern Maryland Beekeepers and we were discussing my concern over finding wax moth larvae in the new hive and the disappearance of the first queen cell. Chip explained that I considered a gloomy scenario can be fixed as simple as destroying the wax moth larvae the next time I am in the hive. Whew!
More puzzling was why the bees totally removed any trace of the first queen cell. While I knew that a queen reared from a young egg is infinitely better than one reared from larvae, I assumed they had done so, given the range of brood on the frame. Chip explained that the bees probably knew which egg/larvae would make for a stronger queen and took action accordingly.
Knowing that I created the split on March 19 and that the egg was at least a day old on that day, and that it takes 16 days to rear a queen, that makes today Queen Day at the Apiary! We have storms passing through today but I hope to take a peak in the hive should there be a break in the weather just to ensure the two queen cells have hatched.
Thank you Chip for being there with your wisdom! While I had read so much about a walk-away split, making a queen and wax moths, I was second guessing myself. But this is how one learns!
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment