How 'bout a Bit of Sun?

Checked the Bees today with the help of a couple buddies. Eric came into the yard and assisted in holding frames and video taping a bee emerge from a brood cell. It was kind of neat to watch him cheer on "Theodore", as he called her. I didn't have the heart to remind him that worker bees are all female! I understand that excitement and love the feeling of seeing new life emerge Eric's encouragement was just another reminder of the small things most of us take for granted. Joe watched with Erin from behind the fence but certainly had a front row seat to the excitement. The weather continued to be overcast but the rain held off so I squeezed in a much needed inspection. the temp was 64 degrees and a bit humid. I brought a third brood box along in case it was needed. My reports from around the state are that bees are WAY ahead of normal and some keepers are already adding honey supers. I knew it was early but you never know.

We smoked the entrance and removed the cover. Bees everywhere and comb being drawn out nicely. The Box was about 50-60% full very good but not enough to add another box. We removed an empty frame and worked through them watching for the queen, looking for brood, larvae, and eggs. We saw alot of brood, both capped and emerging and loads of larvae ranging in size from very small to ready to be capped. I didn't notice eggs or the queen. We moved onto the first box and saw much of the same but this box was nearly 90% full. I scraped off some burr comb (excess comb built on or around frames) and what appeared to be the beginning stages of a swarm cell. I tried not to panic and simply removed it. My research to this point re enforced what I eluded to two posts ago, that there are MANY reasons why a colony produces swarm cells and MANY things that can happen within a hive. I checked for the queen once more and not finding her closed the hive and called it a day. With so many bees in the hive and with me having an unmarked queen it is not unusual to not see the queen.

After everyone left I hit the books looking for an explanation. Did I kill my queen? Did she get sick and die? Did I just miss seeing eggs? Here is what I believe happened and why. I believe that my queen is still there and still producing. We found several stages of larvae, some very small some large and ready to be capped. An egg is laid and remains an egg for about 3 days. At this time it hatches into a larvae which molts everyday for about 6 days. After four days it secretes a scent that alerts the workers that it is time to cap the cell. After about 15 days it emerges as a new worker. I was in the hive over two weeks ago so the queen laid eggs and larvae was born since I was there. I didn't hurt her. The sky was overcast and I am new at beekeeping. I also am using light colored foundation which makes it difficult to see tiny eggs which stand on end within the cells. As for the swarm cells, they may have just been burr comb, or, possibly they were swarm cells. Jim from Nature's Nectar in Stillwater wrote on his blog this weekend about the weather keeping the bees inside for so long that it triggers a pre-swarm response. I think of it as bees getting cabin fever like we do in winter. They can't get out to forage and they make these cells to prepare to swarm. He and others recommend removing the cells and the bees will go back to normal once the nice weather arrives and they can get out foraging again.

I went back to visit the bees several times today from a distance and observed tons of activity as bees came and went. many were loaded with pollen. I believe everything will be fine and that the arrival of some sun will get things back on track.