I have been helping my dad out with his beekeeping. Yesterday we were going to do some "requeening." Or in other words, kill the old queen and put in new queens. But most of his hives weren't doing so well- only one seemed to have an active laying queen- and she was laying very well, so she got spared. Instead we started "nukes" with new queens and brood (with attendant nurse bees). A couple of hives seemed to have swarmed. It isn't clear if there is a new queen that hasn't started laying yet- we couldn't find her, or if the queen is dead. When she goes out on her mating flight she could get eaten by a bird, etc., and never come home. So then the hive would have no queen.
We did find queen cells- ruptured- in two hives. That means a new queen has been hatched. In a Game of Thrones manner, the first queen to come out destroys all the remaining queen cells. So she has no competition.
Maybe I am just sentimental, but I am glad that we let the queen live. It was such as good hive, so much brood and so much honey. And the bees weren't mean, they were very gentle.
The hives differ in temperament. There is one hive that is a lot more defensive than the others. They really swarm around you, no matter how much smoke I give them. Of course I have my bee suit on, so I am pretty safe.
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